
Glass. 



Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



BY THE AUTHOR OF THIS VOLUME. 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES OF SOUTH AMERICA 

AS A FIELD FOR CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 

By E. J. M. CLEMENS, 

Recently Missionary of the M. E. Church. 

66 pages. 12iiio. Paper. Price, 26 Cents. 

THE RELIGION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

By E. J. M. CLEMENS. 
18 pages. 12mo. Paper. Price, lO Cents. 



The above books may be obtained by addressing the author at Metrop- 
olis, 111., or 181 Sixteenth Street, Detroit, Mich. 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



SOUTH AMERICA. 



E. J. M, CLEMENS. 




PHILADELPHIA : 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 
1886. 



Copyright, i8S6, by E. J. M. Clemens. 



FZBOS 



L.^C^^ 



AMERICAN PEOPLE, 

WITH THE HOPE THAT IT MAY IN SOME MEASURE CONTRIBUTE 
TO A BETTER ACQUAINTANCE 

WITH THE NATIONS OF LA PLATA, 

THIS VOLUME 

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 



A JOURNEY AND A GLANCE AT URUGUAY. 

Chaptbr Pagb 

I. — A Journey ii 

II. — Scenes in Montevideo 31 

III. — Popular Amusements 51 

IV. — Burial Customs 61 

V. — Business Conveniences 65 

VI. — The Republic of Uruguay 72 

VII.— Epitome of Uruguayan History 86 



PART II. 



THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC AND BOLIVIAN LA 
PLATA. 

VIII. — The Argentine Capital 95 

IX. — The Argentine Republic 115 

X. — The Province of Buenos Ayres 124 

XL — The Entrepot of the Interior 144 

XII. — Amusements and Incidents 174 

XIII. — Railroads and Colonization 197 

I* 5 



6 CONTENTS. . 

Chapter Page 

XIV. — The Argentine Mesopotamia 220 

XV.— The Cuyo District 238 

XVI. — The Central Provinces 249 

XVII. — The Highland Provinces 264 

XVIII. — The National Territories 275 

XIX. — The Army and Navy 285 

XX. — Educational Facilities 291 

XXI. — Currency and Commerce 307 

XXII. — Epitome of Argentine History 332 

XXIII. — Bolivian La Plata 337 



PART III. 

HISTORICAL RETROSPECT. 

XXIV. — Discovery and Colonization 345 

XXV. — Diverse Inhabitants 360 

XXVI. — War of Independence 368 

XXVII. — Period of Anarchy 373 

XXVIII. — Ancient Religions 389 

XXIX. — Influence of the Jesuits 405 



PART IV. 

PARAGUAY. 



XXX. — Independence of Paraguay 423 

XXXI. — Destruction of Paraguay 437 



CONTENTS. 7 

Chaptbr Pagb 

XXXII.— Reconstruction of Paraguay 455 

XXXIII. — Epitome of Paraguayan History 487 



PART V. 

BRAZILIAN LA PLATA. 
XXXIV.— Brazilian La Plata 493 



PART I. 



A JOURNEY AND A GLANCE AT 
URUGUAY. 



CHAPTER I. 

A JOURNEY. 

When, in the beginning of the year 1880, I was 
preparing to go to the Argentine Republic, I was 
surprised to find how little I knew of that country, 
and how little with regard to the South American 
nations is available to the general reader. I was 
even more astonished on learning that to reach my 
proposed destination, a journey longer than to India 
lay before me ; that there were only four routes by 
which the valley of the Rio de la Plata — the south- 
em twin of the Mississippi Valley — could be reached 
from the United States. The first of these, by 
steamer from some Atlantic port of the United 
States to Europe, and thence to Montevideo. The 
second, from San Francisco down the west coast to 
Valparaiso; thence around Cape Horn to Monte- 
video and Buenos Ayres. (By this route the 
traveller gets one degree more of latitude than if 
he should start from the equator and land at the 
North Pole, and for good count, gets 21^° over 
again. To avoid the repetition, he may leave the 



12 LA PLATA COUNTRLES 

steamer at Valparaiso and cross the Andes on 
mule-back, — in which case a minimum of personal 
property is an item worthy of consideration.) The 
third is from New York to Valparaiso by the way 
of Panama, and from Valparaiso either around 
Cape Horn or across the Andes. The fourth, by 
sailing vessel from an Atlantic port of the United 
States, direct to the La Plata. The most regular 
and commodious of these sail from Portland, with 
cargoes of lumber. By sailing-vessel route, the 
distance between the United States and the mouth 
of the Rio de la Plata is between seven thousand 
and eight thousand miles. The shortest route by 
steamer is more than ten thousand miles. By 
neither is the journey likely to be accomplished in 
less than two months, and by the former it may be 
indefinitely protracted. 

I decided to go by England, as the cheapest and 
most expeditious way of reaching the desired point, 
and registered for Liverpool on " the safest ship of 
the safest line that ever ploughed the sea." 

There could be no pleasanter spring morning 
than that on which we steamed down the East River 
and out into the broad Atlantic. Never was sky 
more unconscious of a frown, or treacherous sea 
more unsuggestive of a billow. But never were 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 13 

pleasant auguries more ruthlessly set at naught. 
On the second day rough weather set in, and each 
succeeding to-morrow the waves grew more boister- 
ous, each night the demons of the sea held more 
hideous revelry. 

Before we hailed the Irish coast one life-boat had 
been carried away, and, as the sequel proved, two 
others had been hopelessly disabled. Then the 
goblins of the deep retired to their caves, and the 
human hearts they had buffeted were filled with 
thanksgiving. 

At Queenstown the government inspector came 
on board, laughed at our dilapidated appearance, 
took a glass of grog, and climbed down the rope- 
ladder into his boat. Letters were sent on shore. 
The pilot came on board, and again we were moving 
on in high spirits. 

With night, a thick fog settled down on St. 
George's Channel, and the ship crept slowly on, 
through the first and second watches, feeling for the 
clear water. Midnight ! One ; two ; half-past, and 
" all is well !" Close upon the stroke of three ; but 
the bell for three was never rung. An instant of 
quickened speed, — a sudden reversing of motion, 
— a raising of the ship ; then an ominous hush ! 
I waited the possible sixtieth part of an interminable 



14 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



second, and then called " What is the matter ?" No 
answer came from the watchman who had kept his 
nightly beat in the passage, so I left my berth to 
investigate. As I reached the cabin, the Purser 
came rushing down. " On deck, quick ! Tell them 
all not to wait for anything ! Get on deck as quick 
as possible ! We are wrecked !" 

On deck was pitchy blackness, rendered more 
intense by the glare of tar lights and the lurid flash 
of the distress rockets, and more hideous by the 
boom of the signal gun. All but two of the forty- 
two firemen had deserted their post and were surg- 
ing up and down the deck panic-stricken. The 
passengers were ordered forward, and in trying to 
obey were beaten back by this grimy living wave. 
Then, across ship, only again and again to be 
thrust aside. Owing to the careening of the ship 
and the twisting of its iron bars, the first life-boat 
attempted could not be lowered. Others were at 
length let down and the work of filling them was 
begun. The ladies went first. Around the waist of 
each a rope was tied ; then she clambered over the 
deck-guard, clung to a rope-ladder, swung over the 
dark abyss, and was caught by a sailor, who 
deposited her at his feet in the life-boat. " The 
children next," called the Purser, after the first lady 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 1 5 

had been lowered. But two little girls clung 
together, saying firmly, " No, no, we will not go 
till mamma does. Because the other time they put 
us in a boat and she did not come !" It was the 
second time the " little family" had been wrecked 
within a month in trying to get back from America 
to their English home. Those let down last after- 
wards described it as dreadful to stand on deck and 
watch the slow sinking of their companions into the 
gloomy depths, lit up only by flashes of the tar 
light. Those first lowered described the sensation 
as agonizing, as they sat in that gloom, almost 
holding their pulse-beats with suspense, and saw 
one after another swinging over them. Under such 
circumstances it would be hard to say which is 
.more heroic, or shows the greater self-abnegation, 
she who waits till the last, or she who willingly goes 
first. While the ladies were being thus assisted, the 
gentlemen passengers were clambering down rope- 
ladders to the boats assigned them. When I 
stepped into the life-boat, I found myself nearly 
knee-deep in water. Then began a great outcry. 
" Another boat, ho ! another boat ! This one is 
sinking. Quick, another boat !" As speedily as 
possible another boat was brought around, and 
those who could not help themselves were picked up 



1 6 LA PLATA COUNTRLES 

in strong arms and tossed over into it. All the little 
belongings that had been clung to thus far, and the 
blankets thrown down for our protection, were lost 
in the transfer. This second boat was rapidly filling. 
Again came the frantic order from the upper deck, 
" For God's sake push off!" But whither should 
we go ? The boats spun around and around, trying 
to go, no one knew whither. At length one struck 
off towards the dim outline of the rocky coast, and 
after long search found a small cove into which it 
entered. By wading through the surf nearly breast 
deep and clambering up a steep bluff, the men 
found human habitations, but were not suffered to 
enter, and shivering with the cold, seeing no better 
refuge, they waded back to their boat. Through 
all the weary hours, from three o'clock till day, 
no human being came out on that thickly-settled 
coast, in answer to the distress signals, to offer 
help or to show one glimmering ray of human 
sympathy. 

The boat to which I had been consigned, having 
both ladies and gentlemen, struck off towards a 
light in the distance. In the confusion, and under 
cover of the darkness, eleven firemen had slipped 
down the side of the wreck, making twenty-nine 
persons in a boat designed at its best estate to carry 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 1 7 

only fifteen. Now it stood sorely in need of calk- 
ing. This being out of the question, bailing alone 
remained. The firemen refused to assist in bailing 
or to help at the oars. Only three sailors had fallen 
to our lot, and the prospect was not flattering. 
Signs of mutiny were rife. Harsh words were 
bandied between the infuriated men and the power- 
less officer in charge. " I will report you when we 
get to shore," said the officer to the burly ring- 
leader seated in the bow. " Humph ! You're not 
at shore yet 1" was the threatening retort in a 
demoniac tone. 

Then another sound broke on the ear. At first, a 
soft, broken sound, but growing stronger as one 
tremulous voice after another joined in the refrain — 
"Nearer, my God, to thee," "Jesus, lover of my 
soul," " Rock of ages." The fog had turned to rain, 
and was pouring down on us. The water lacked 
only a few inches of filling the boat, and the revolv- 
ing light in the dim distance seemed to grow no 
nearer. There appeared no human probability that 
the boat could reach the shore. Every passenger 
fully realized the situation, but no one spoke of 
danger. Every one was in the most uncomfortable 
position, but no one spoke of discomfort. During 

all those dreary hours not a groan was uttered. 
6 2* 



1 8 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

As the singing continued, creeping along in the 
darkness that seemed as though it never would grow 
light, the spirit of mutiny died away, the men began 
to bail with a will, and volunteered their help at the 
oars. Finally, when daylight struggled through the 
clouds, and " Pull for the shore" sounded cheerfully 
over the water, the seamen joined in the song, and 
when that was ended, suggested " America," a com- 
pliment that was responded to by as hearty a follow- 
ing of "God save the Queen;" and when, after six 
hours of rowing, we drew near to the Holyhead 
pier, " Praise God from whom all blessings flow" 
floated out on the morning air with as deep thanks- 
giving as the words have ever voiced since Luther's 
grand anthem sounded through Germany. 

The Holyhead Breakwater is one of the boasts of 
British engineering. The Holyhead Light-house is 
one of her marine wonders. The Holyhead Harbor 
is the best on the Welsh coast, and the town the 
commercial emporium of the principality. 

As our boat neared the pier, the keeper of the 
light-house stood on it, surveying us without the 
formality of an eye-glass. 

"Where is the best place to land the ladies?" 
called out the officer, 

" Steps," was the laconic reply. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. I9 

"They are ill and faint. Can we land them 
anywhere near a hotel ?" 

" Don't know." 

" Are there steps farther up ?" 

"Yes." 

" Is the tide so we can get to them ?" 

" You can tell by trying ;" still without taking his 
hands from his pockets, or showing the least sensi- 
bility. 

As the tide was ebbing, it was thought best not to 
try to reach the upper steps, but stop there, cold and 
stiff as all were from their long sitting in cramped 
positions. Frowzy women and dirty children stared 
at our little procession dragging itself forlornly 
along in search of shelter, until the Marine Hotel 
hid it from view. Judging by the ample bar and 
empty larder, strong drink is the " staff of life" in 
Wales, and also its crutches. The firemen availed 
themselves of " fire-water," while the passengers 
pleaded for fires, and three or four hours later the 
replenished larder furnished an agreeable episode. 

The tug "Sea King" picked up our scattered 
companies and took us on to Liverpool with a 
hearty good-will to make us as comfortable as 
possible. A tin pail constantly boiling on the little 
cabin stove brewed cocoa for our refreshment, which 



20 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

was served from mouth to mouth in the solitary tin- 
cup and a tea-cup that bounded the possibiHty of ele- 
gance, and the cake thoughtfully brought from the 
steward's store was an unquestioned bond of equality. 
Late in the night a grotesque company — drunken 
firemen, forlorn seamen, exasperated officers, hurry- 
ing police, bewildered revenue collectors, and drag- 
gled, half-clad travellers — filed through the Liver- 
pool custom-house. One by one the figures 
disappear, and clattering cabs rumble away from 
the floating docks. 

THE JOURNEY CONTINUED — LEAVES FROM MY 
DIARY. 

yune 15, 1880. — Last night left London by ten 
P.M. train for Liverpool, in the early twilight, and 
at ten this morning found myself once more " with 
only a plank between me and eternity." The pur- 
gatorial lava that soughs and surges through the 
caldron that the Greeks called a stomach, as we roll 
over the Bay of Biscay swells, makes thoughts of 
time less tolerable. 

20th, 8 P.M. — Passing the Madeira Islands, that 
are faintly outlined against the horizon in an em- 
bankment of feathery clouds, which mount to the 
zenith and are piled about the moon in roseate 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 21 

heaps. Within the week the day has shortened 
itself an hour at each end. At nine o'clock the 
bright evening tints are fading. 

22d. — The morning sky was threatening, but the 
sun broke through the clouds and scattered the 
calm sea with a million golden points of dancing, 
sparkling light that involuntarily suggested the 
simile, that grand poem of the ethereal sea : 

" The myriad stars the gold dust are 
Of thy divine abode." 

There is now no twilight. The full moon takes 
the place of the setting sun. But for the moon we 
would be in midnight darkness within fifteen 
minutes after sunset. 

23^. — Gray sky, gray sea, not a ship in sight, not 
a fish, not a gull, — nothing ! 

24///. — Same as yesterday. 

2^th. — Repetition of the 23d. Crossed the Tropic 
of Cancer. 

26th. — Flying-fish killed by alighting on the deck, 
and served for dinner. Almost dark at seven p.m. 

2'jth. — Cast anchor before St. Vincent, the prin- 
cipal settlement of the Cape Verde Islands, on the 
island of the same name. Twenty vessels were at 
anchor in the bay when we arrived, one bearing the 



22 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

stars and stripes. This is a pretty sheet of water, 
well sheltered from winds by the surrounding islands 
that present a jagged outline to the coast. At the 
entrance, Bird Rock lifts its conical head to a con- 
siderable altitude and varies its outline at every 
movement of our floating castle. Separated from 
St. Vincent only by a narrow channel, the fertile 
island of San Antonio stretches along one side of 
the bay. Canoes laden with pineapples and bananas 
put out from it and hasten toward us in quest of 
purchasers. As far as the eye can reach, St. Vin- 
cent is a mere ridge of yellow, rocky hills with 
scarce a sign of vegetation. The town of about 
three thousand inhabitants hugs the shore in an 
opening of these yellow hills. The only occu- 
pation is furnished by vessels that put in here for 
coal. 

Although this group of islands is one of the 
few outlying remnants of the " Four Kingdoms" 
that Portugal once boasted, and the mass of the 
inhabitants are the descendants of the Portuguese 
and conquered natives with whom they amalga- 
mated, and although all business transactions must 
conform to the cumbrous tedium of Portuguese 
methods, the bulk of trade is in the hands of the 
British. The coal is brought from British mines 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 23 

in British vessels, and stored here for British gains. 
But the handhng is by Portuguese, with Portuguese 
despatch. On an average it requires twenty-four 
hours' labor of fifty men to discharge one hundred 
and fifty tons in the hold of a ship, which lies half 
a mile from shore, or farther. The coal, filled in 
gunny-sacks, — about thirteen sacks to the ton, — 
is towed out to it in tub-like iron-clad barges. 
Two or three sacks at a time are hooked to the 
ship's crane and drawn up by the " nigger engine." 
The attendant St. Vincentese laborers catch them 
and empty them by hand into the hold. While 
cubic feet of coal accumulate below, cubic yards 
of coal-dust accumulate on deck, until it is hard 
to distinguish Portuguese from Englishmen, whites 
from blacks. 

The last three barges were towed out together 
and had been emptied, when, through the dense 
clouds of dust, we were treated to a rare bit of 
impromptu acting — " true to the life :" the only 
action with the semblance of life in any way con- 
nected with the business that had for two and a 
half days " dragged its slow length along." By 
some oversight the steam-tug started towards shore 
with the three barges in tow, and straightened the 
cable connecting them, when it was discovered that 



24 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



the last one was still tied to the ship. Stopped by 
the cable's strength, the occupants of the three 
barges rushed back and forth, wildly gesticulating, 
their loose cotton garments fluttering in the wind, 
while stray bits of coal flew from barge to barge 
and struck the water in hopeless ineffectiveness. 
The utter unintelligibility of the torrent of sound 
that poured from all mouths at once, accompanied 
by indescribable grimaces and contortions, left a 
vague wonder whether a scene from the " Inferno" 
were being enacted, or "the missing link" found. 
At last the tug came back. Two men from it ran 
through the barges, cut the offending rope with a 
hatchet, and as hastily retreated to seemingly safer 
quarters than within arm's length of their excited 
companions. The babble of excited altercation 
floated back to us as our own engine began to 
add its volume of smoke to the overhanging 
darkness, and our prow was once more turned 
toward the Southern sea. 

The San Antonio divers furnished the passengers 
with diversion while waiting for the coaling. Nude 
boys came in skiff-loads, and a short distance from 
the ship leaped into the sea regardless of the sharks, 
with which they disputed the watery element. Some 
swam all the way from their islands to join in the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



25 



" variety performance," which is extremely ludicrous. 
The audience on deck pay for the show by bits of 
money thrown into the water. When a penny is 
thrown, down the divers swoop after it, like a flock 
of gulls after a crumb. The successful competitor 
thrusts the coin into his mouth (the only pocket 
his wardrobe affords), and, coming quickly to the 
surface, motions to throw him another. Nor do 
these enterprising youths hesitate to suggest to 
their audience that silver is more easily seen in the 
water than copper. One coin was so nearly the 
prize of each of two contestants, that an altercation 
ensued, in which he who had failed seemed to 
accuse the winner of unfairness, and as a final 
argument in the case, seized him by the throat 
and choked him until the coin dropped from his 
mouth. But before he could take advantage of the 
stratagem, another little fellow darted under them, 
secured the prize, and swallowed it. Spoiler and 
spoiled showed an equal inclination to choke the 
interloper, but when his opened mouth showed 
the uselessness of further action, all faces and all 
hands were again directed toward the deck for a 
new bait. Like all well-organized troupes, when 
the audience grew thin, the company moved on. 
28th. — Latitude 13° north, dark at seven p.m. 

B 3 



26 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

2gth. — Excessively hot. Reached the rain-belt 
at four P.M. 

^oth. — Bade good-by to the North star and hailed 
the Southern cross, 

jFiily ist. — Dead calm. " If a whale would only 
spout!" "or a Portuguese man-of-war come to the 
surface!" "anything to break this dreadful mon- 
otony !" Such is the substance of conversation. 
A sail-ship on the horizon. The captain says it 
may lie there two months without catching air 
enough to fill its sails. 

^^.— Sighted St. Paul's Rocks, latitude 55' 45'' 
north, longitude 29° 21' west from Greenwich. 
Immense volcanic rocks incrusted with white cal- 
careous matter, five hundred miles from the nearest 
point of any continent and three hundred miles 
from the nearest island. They would be undesirable 
neighbors in a storm. — Two gulls. — The sail of a 
northern-bound vessel. — Cool breeze. — Slight swell. 
Five P.M. — On the equator — Neptune declines to 
make us the time-honored visit. 

j^. — Crossed the western ocean current on its way 
from the Cape of Good Hope to the Gulf of Mexico, 
to be transformed into the Gulf Stream. There is 
a noticeable difference in the atmosphere since we 
left the sun loitering about the Tropic of Cancer. 



i 



OF SOUTH AMERICA: 



27 



6th. — For three days have been rolled and 
bumped and thumped across the tropics until my 
body is a mass of bruises inflicted by the wall of 
my state-room and the plank that holds me into 
my berth. Such attitudinizing does not increase 
one's feeling of self-complacency. 

gtJi. — Dead calm for two days, but a storm is 
prophesied. 

I2th. — The prophecy has been fulfilled. Thurs- 
day noon we were again rolling. All night and 
the next day and the next huge waves broke over 
the ship's sides and bellowed under the cross-beams. 
Anon, a counter wave got under the stern, tossed 
it in air, and hissed along the keel. Then a head- 
wind would snatch the main-mast and scream 
through the rigging, " Have more dignity than to 
make fishing-tackle of yourselves." 

Later. — The storm has lulled, and a few sallow 
mortals emerge from their rooms in quest of a 
corner of dry deck. But the " seas" that are 
" shipped" every 'io.v^ minutes drive them in again. 
Have made two hundred and twenty-four miles 
in twenty-four hours. Sunset at five p.m. 

I ph. — Dense fog. Got ready for the life-boats. 
Supposed to be fifteen miles from the Brazilian 
Coast Reef. 



28 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

15th. — Last night we had the most terrific 
thunder-storm I have ever known. As I clung 
to the side of my berth, I caught glimpses through 
the port of a sea ablaze with phosphorus. Pitch 
blackness everywhere, save the glare of the light- 
ning and the gleam of the waves. 

Ten A.M. — The storm continues. A pilot has 
been taken on board. This is rarely done by 
steamers in this part of the ocean. Pilot-boats 
frequent these waters for the accommodation of 
sailing vessels, but one is rarely hailed by any other 
craft. However, in this continued altercation of 
fogs and furies, our captain has grown haggard. 
It is a relief to him to have a fresh eye with him 
on the bridge, especially as it is now ascertained 
that our ship has been driven thirty miles from its 
course. 

One P.M. — Signs of clearing. — Hope revives. — 
Pass a shoal of fur seals. 

Four P.M. — PajHpero^ coming up. 

Five P.M. — Have been compelled to anchor ten 
miles from Montevideo Bay. The waves lash over 
us at a rate that leaves all that has gone before as 
child's play in comparison. 

* The patiipero is a severe windstorm from the southwest. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 29 

1 6th. — The officers agree in assuring us that there 
is one blessing about a pavipcro, it never lasts long. 
The statement is true of the one we have experi- 
enced, as compared with 

" The lengthened sweetness long drawn out" 

of the ocean swells that have preceded it. The 
distinction is that the pampero is a land breeze that 
affects only the river. And it now transpires that 
we have sailed a hundred miles on the Rio de la 
Plata, without my suspecting that we had left the 
ocean. At nine o'clock this morning we cast anchor 
in Montevideo Bay, six miles from the Queen City 
of the South Temperate Zone, with as clear a sky 
arching over us, and beneath us as calm a blue, 
tinged with emerald, as gave me their benediction 
at the beginning of the ten thousand seven hundred 
miles of sailing, now happily at an end. 

The city looks beautiful in the distance, stretched 
in a semicircle around the curves of the bay, flanked 
at one extreme by the little mountain that gave it 
its name, and at the other by a strip of white sandy 
beach. As its towers gleam before us in the morn- 
ing sun, it is hard to realize that few decades have 
passed during its whole history without its walls 
3* 



20 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

being battered by besieging armies, and its streets 
drenched with the blood of contending factions. 

Not a sanguinary hint, not a hostile suggestion 
is now apparent, and we welcome the approach of 
the bote de despenscro by which we are to reach the 
shore. It has a seating capacity for from twenty 
to thirty persons, and storage for a ton or two of 
freight. In the centre is a mast from which a 
square sail is rigged. The crew consists of two 
semi-naturalized Genoese, one of whom steers and 
the other takes care of the sail. As it veers from 
side to side, and its base pole strikes here a shoulder 
and there a head, we could almost wish he would 
give a little attention to the passengers. But the 
wish is hardly formed when a volley of unintelligi- 
ble apologies shows that the thought does him 
injustice. And before the apologies are ended, an- 
other blow in another quarter calls them all out 
again. I attempt a conversation, which, between 
their broken Italian and my broken Spanish, bids 
fair to yield me some convenient bits of information, 
until we begin to get the threads of each other's 
discourse only to find that we are talking upon 
different subjects. After repeated efforts of this 
kind, always with the same result, the bote draws 
up to the slippery steps of the pier, from which 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



31 



the tide is receding, having made the six miles in 
an hour and twenty minutes. The pier extends 
from the point of the httle peninsula that, until 
within a quarter of a century, contained the entire 
city. A short walk brings us to the customs-house, 
whose open door now courts our entrance. It is 
a two-story stuccoed building, than which many 
inferior ones may be found in cities of the United 
States not without considerable commercial pre- 
tensions. 



CHAPTER II. 

SCENES IN MONTEVIDEO. 

Patience is a cardinal virtue. There may be 
better places for acquiring it, but there can be none 
better for practising it than the customs-house 
whose portals so invitingly beckoned us. But the 
moment the traveller has received the polite intima- 
tion from the customs officer that the freedom of 
the city is his, half a dozen chancaderos are ready 
to pounce upon their prey. The chancadero is the 
compeer of the Jehu that haunts the suburbs of 
railway stations in the United States. But he 



32 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

flourishes no whip in the face of his victim, neither 
points to yellow omnibus nor tattered " hack" and 
vociferates " Kurrij ! Kurrij !" His humble aspira- 
tion is to carry hand baggage, a self-service which, 
in the glamour of this land of independence, liberty, 
and equality, to a gentleman or lady would be an 
un-to-be-thought-of degradation. Custom exoner- 
ates the chancadero from that superfluity of attire 
that insists upon adding the burden of a cockade to 
the honor of a whip. His feet, guiltless of stock- 
ings, are shod in alpergatas, the Spanish-American 
canvas shoe with braided straw soles, which is held 
to the foot with a strip of blue or red cotton cloth, 
wound around the ankle and crossed over the instep. 
His short, loose cotton trousers are girt about his 
waist with a cotton string or leather thong, over 
which in many folds is wound a long, broad girdle, 
that serves a variety of purposes according to the 
demands of his carrying trade. His open shirt- 
collar thrown back exposes his tawny chest, and a 
bright cotton handkerchief loosely knotted around 
his neck serves him for the many purposes for which 
baskets are elsewhere used. At the market, he 
drops the beefsteak and onions for his patron's 
breakfast into this handkerchief, just as naturally as 
he and his companions slip their loosened girdles 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 3^ 

under his piano-forte and around their necks and 
march off with it on moving day. A canvas cap, a 
colored turban, or a slouch hat completes his cos- 
tume. A stranger may be deceived by his protesta- 
tion that he will carry any hand baggage for a 
certain amount and be therewith content, but a 
resident, never. If the few pounds chance to be 
in several packages, and, with all the motions of a 
jumping-jack thrice repeated, he asserts his ability 
to carry them on one arm, there is no cause for 
surprise if he distributes them among his compan- 
ions, and each demands for his part of the service 
the original amount stipulated for the whole. It is 
a legitimate mode of complimenting one on the 
acknowledged superiority of his social position, and 
profiting thereby. If his demand be granted, his 
outstretched hand still waits for a napa, for which 
he pleads volubly. But if his demand is not 
granted, his thanks for what he does get are ex- 
pressed as profusely as the most copious language 
will admit, and he goes off apparently as happy as 
if he had received the whole. 

Cabs ) made in England^ wait a beckoning finger, 
and when the signal is given a chancadero hastens to 
open the door, for which he expects a coin. He 
may then run along keeping pace with the carriage 



24 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

to the end of the ride, regardless of distance, ready 
again to open the door and receive another coin. 
The charge for a cab is one dollar per hour, 
chancadero not included. 

The first impression received in Montevideo is 
that no one is in a hurry. 

The shifting scenes in the Uruguayan capital are 
not fac-similes of those enacted in New York. A 
baker passes on a mule that would be no credit to 
a freedman's plantation after the army worm, the 
chinch bug, and the grasshopper had been through 
his section. The panadero, happily unconscious of 
such comparisons, trots composedly over the cobble- 
stones, carrying his loaves in two enormous cow- 
hide pannier baskets swung across his mule, above 
which he sits sidewise on an indescribable looking 
something that does duty for a saddle. Close at his 
heels is a milkman with his cans strung by the side 
of his steed in pouches made of strips of rawhide. 
Down a cross street comes another with chickens 
tied by the legs and dangling at the sides of his 
Rosinante. And there yet another, with hairy cow- 
hide baskets only less capacious than those of the 
baker, and half a dozen hens sitting on each. His 
stentorian voice informs housekeepers two or three 
squares in advance that there are fresh eggs in the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



35 



baskets. It is midwinter, but everywhere men are 

walking about leisurely selling flowers, everywhere 

women promenade the sidewalks with lace thrown 

over their heads, tastefully fastened to the heavy 

braids of their jet-black hair, and carrying that I 

indispensable part of a Spanish lady's wardrobe, a 

fan, which here serves all the purposes of a parasol, 

and on narrow sidewalks is much less in the way. 

Next to Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo is the finest 
city in the world south of the equator. Its site is 
all that could be asked for a great commercial em- 
porium as well as for the local habitat of a cultured 
and aesthetic humanity. It stands out boldly on a 
rocky peninsula that rises gradually as it recedes 
from the shore and then declines more gradually to 
the bed of a little stream that empties into the bay | 

about two miles above the point. Thus the entire 
site of the city has a natural surface drainage and 
the best possible facilities for the most perfect un- 
derground sewerage. Despite the imperfection of 
the latter, Montevideo is a clean and, consequently, 
a healthy city. The pelting rains that drench its 
paved streets and force all surface accretions into 
the sea, leave them with the appearance of having 
been cleansed with broom or scrubbing-brush. The 
streets are all paved with cobble-stones and, gener- 



36 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



ally, the sidewalks with broad flag-stones. In some 
parts these are also paved with cobble-stones, al- 
though, more usually, where flag-stones are not in 
use, tile or brick take their place. The old walled 
town of three centuries' growth was confined to the 
peninsula, which is only one mile long and a little 
more than half as broad. In it the streets are 
narrow and irregular, and the sidewalks almost dis- 
appear. This section is now densely packed with 
business houses, especially shipping offices and 
other buildings connected with marine interests, 
plentifully interspersed with drinking establishments. 
Until the treaty of 1859, by which Great Britain, 
Brazil, and the Argentine Republic guaranteed the 
independence of Uruguay, Montevideo felt the ne- 
cessity of a continual readiness to repel a bom- 
bardment, and the surrounding wall was sur- 
mounted by guns. With the unwonted tranquillity 
that followed that treaty, the guns fell into disuse, 
but the wall was not wholly removed until 1875, 
nor are the marks of its whereabouts yet entirely 
obliterated. When the city outgrew those swad- 
dling bands, it gave breadth to its thoroughfares 
commensurate with the expanding thought of a 
people who had sprung into national being. Calle 
Florida, which marks the end of the old and the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 37 

beginning of the new city, is sixty feet wide, and 
the same liberality of territory extends to many 
others. Calle Diez-y-ocho-de-Julio (18th of July), 
or, as it would be called in the United States, 
" Independence Street," is one hundred feet wide 
and two miles long. It begins at Government 
square, — the plaza of the old town, — crosses Calle 
Florida at a right angle, and ends in another 
public plaza, of equal size. The first serves as a 
review ground for government troops. The last 
is gorgeous with beds of flowers and delightful 
with the shade of subtropical trees and shrubs, to 
the enjoyment of which smooth winding walks in- 
vite the pedestrian. Midway between these is yet 
another plaza, in the centre of which is the only 
public monument in the Republic of Uruguay, the 
Statue of Liberty, on a fluted colunm forty feet 
high. The whole length of the street is nicely 
paved, and the broad sidewalks are flanked by 
double rows of paradise and palm trees. These, 
in their turn, are flanked by the most aristocratic 
business houses of the city, especially retail dry 
goods and jewellers' establishments. 

The people have not lost the relish for public 
pageants sedulously fostered by the Spanish set- 
tlers for three hundred years in the New World, 



38 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

and for three times three hundred by their an- 
cestors in the Old World. For these, no better 
accommodations could be asked than are afforded 
by Calle Diez-y-ocho. It is always beautifully 
lighted at night with gas, but on occasion of the 
grand fiestas no expense is spared to make it 
magnificent. Tasteful draperies hang from every 
balcony. Bright-colored cambrics are draped 
across the street from balustrade to balustrade of 
the flat roofs, and from tree to tree. From the 
branches of the trees also depend hundreds of 
bright paper lanterns and globes of light of every 
device. At intervals arches span the street with 
fanciful designs in gas jets. Through this glare 
of light in this fairy-like scene, the long proces- 
sion moves up one side of the street and down 
the other to the sound of music. The many 
events, religious and political, that are scrupu- 
lously celebrated leave few weeks without a proces- 
sion. That of the i8th of July, the anniversary of 
the Uruguayan declaration of independence, calls 
out the greatest enthusiasm and the most lavish 
expenditure. 

The common building material is a coarse, hard- 
baked brick, measuring thirteen inches in length, 
six in breadth, and two in thickness. It is so porous 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 29 

that the humidity of the atmosphere easily pene- 
trates' the houses through the walls and any damp- 
ness of the ground as easily rises through the floors. 
The walls are plastered both outside and in, orna- 
mented with a profusion of stucco designs and 
plaster-of-Paris mouldings, and color-washed in 
every variety of shade from deep red to pale blue, 
canary color, and lavender. Formerly the political 
colors, red and white, were conspicuous. Now they 
are in a measure giving way to shades of brown and 
slate, more grateful to the eye. Window and door- 
facings, thresholds, and stair-steps are of Italian 
marble in all the best class of buildings. Dwellings 
are built around an inner court, called 2, patio ^ after 
the Moorish style of architecture. Fifteen French 
feet is the usual width of a room and height of a 
ceiling. Except the one or two looking on the 
street, the rooms are lighted only by glass in the 
upper half of the double door opening into the 
patio. No front yard or tiny grass-plot separates 
the city home from the sidewalk. The family is 
protected from possible depredations from that 
quarter by iron gratings over the windows, called 
rejas. Many rejas are of artistic design. Many are 

* Pronounced paf-e-o. 



40 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



merely straight iron bars. In either case, much time 
is required to overcome the impression of a prison 
made by them and the continuous walls, there being 
no spaces or area walks between the buildings. 
An occasional new house without the rcjas, or with 
them only on the lower part of the windows, indi- 
cates an increased sense of security among the 
people. On the principal streets a fair proportion 
of the houses are two stories high. In this case 
each story is a separate dwelling, and the patio of 
the upper house is the roof of a part of the lower 
one. A balcony overhanging the lower patio sup- 
plies to the upper dwelling the place of the " hall" 
in a North American house. The patio serves the 
same purpose in the lower house. In the more pre- 
tentious houses the patios are paved with marble, 
two or three colors often being formed into simple 
mosaic patterns. Sandstone, limestone, and granite 
are also used. More common than either is the 
baldosa, a glazed tile rather more than an inch thick 
and eight inches square. In the poorer houses 
common building brick suffices for both patio and 
floor. The baldosa is the common roofing material. 
The roofs are flat and surrounded by a wall or 
balustrade from two to three feet high. But little 
timber is used in the structure, except for rafters to 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 4 1 

support the baldosa roofs, doors, and window-sash. 
New and expensive houses have wooden floors, the 
sawed flooring for which comes from the United 
States. Window-glass is brought from France, and 
the necessary iron fixtures mostly from England. 
Two-story houses have a balcony overhanging the 
street, from which groups of ladies often manifest a 
lively interest in the passing events of this mundane 
sphere. An occasional mirador rising from the roof 
gives a small room, with or without glass enclosure, 
for the same purpose. When the heat of the sun is not 
too intense the roof furnishes a pleasant promenade 
for older people and a play-ground for the children, 
where, as they inhale the invigorating ocean breezes, 
the eye may wander over the broad expanse of roofs 
— where, perchance, other happy groups are assem- 
bled — out on the bay filled with sails from many 
lands, and around the curve of the coast where the 
first glimpse may be had of the incoming steamers. 
The sunlight fades away, and one by one the stars 
come out in the clear sky. The moon sheds down 
its silvery radiance. Friends, perhaps, are added for 
an hour to the family group on the house-top. A 
little servant brings up the mate cup, which passes 
from hand to hand, and the fragrant tea is leisurely 
sucked through the silver tube, as the soft murmur 



42 



LA PLATA COUNTRLES 



of voices mingles with the sough of the surf. Little 
eyes grow heavy, and one by one little heads are laid 
to rest and hands are clasped in those of the angel 
of sleep. The rumble of carts and all the harsher 
sounds of busy life die away. Pleasure-seekers 
return from theatre and turtidia. Now only the 
watchman's prolonged cry is heard: '' L-a-s d-o-c-e 
h-a-n t-o-c-a-d-o y t-o-d-o s-e-r-e-n-o ;" and at last, 
under the pale moonlight and guarded by the sea, 
the city sleeps. 

Of the inhabitants of Montevideo, of Uruguay, 
and of all the La Plata, there are two distinct 
classes, the gente decente (literally decent people) 
and the pe-ons, or laborers. The first includes the 
pure-blooded descendants of the original Spanish 
settlers. They engage in war, politics, the learned 
professions and commerce, but never in any kind 
of manual labor unless driven to it by dire necessity, 
and even then few indeed but would prefer genteel 
dependence or even beggary. They are fastidious 
in dress, punctilious in etiquette, dignified in de- 
meanor, suave in conversation, haughty in their 
self-esteem, and a trifle vain of long, transparent 
finger-nails, which the dandy sometimes cultivates 
till long enough to make a pen-point. The ladies 
dress elegantly in European styles and fabrics, are 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 43 

social, vivacious, and versatile in conversation, dance 
gracefully, are devoted to music, embroider}^ re- 
ligious exercises, and mate drinking, and leave 
household care to their servants. The pco7i is the 
descendant of the conquered, amalgamated, or re- 
duced Indians. He has never been anything but 
a laborer, a species of beast of burden, and rarely 
shows an awakening aspiration for a better lot. 
In both classes there are an infinitude of grades, 
but the labor line divides the two as distinctly as 
the color line separates the freedman and white 
citizen of the United States. One class absorbs 
the learned and mercantile residents from other 
countries, the other the laboring emigrants, who, 
however, have a better prospect of eventually over- 
stepping the dividing line and joining the upper 
class. Numerous servants of the one class are 
essential members of the household of the other. 
Even the poorest of the gente must contrive to 
be able to allude to some one as " my servant" in 
order to retain his self-respect. 

The conventillo is the home of the laborer. This 
is a row of rooms without communicating doors. 
Each room is occupied by one or more families. 
The inclosed ground called d,fondaj,s left unpaved, 
and is occupied jointly by all the families. An 



44 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



ordinary dwelling-house, when it is no longer fit 
to rent to a wealthier tenant, is often turned into 
a conventillo. As the walls are continuous and the 
rejas shield all windows aHke, except in superior 
finish, there is no street distinction between the 
homes of the poor and the rich. It is only by 
glimpses through the gratings of open doors or 
windows that a hint is given of the life beyond. 
To all alike, every class of family supplies is taken 
in through the street door. Rarely, indeed, is there 
any other entrance. A horse and carriage are 
sometimes admitted by it. 

The government buildings occupy two sides of 
the government plaza, from which Calle Diez-y-ocho 
begins. They are two stories high, of ordinary 
building brick, stuccoed, and with nothing dis- 
tinctive in their architecture, except a wide porch 
along the entire front supported by rather massive 
Corinthian columns. It is the avowed intention to 
continue this colonnade down the third side of the 
plaza. When completed it will be one of the most 
artistic, imposing, and comfortable of promenades. 
The conception is in keeping with the great ideals 
that seem ever to float in the liberated Spanish- 
American mind. Unfortunately, in many enter- 
prises, the greatness of the ideal and the poverty 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



45 



of the treasury induces a compromise; and by the 
use of cheap material the present aesthetic effect 
is sought at the expense of durabiHty, and a tawdry 
imitation rather than the true expression of the 
ideal is the result. /?. .U<'^''",\ 

The Church of the Matriz, or Cathedral of '. -^^ jb^ 
Montevideo, occupies the fourth side of the plaza, d^"^! ^^V**^ > 
It is the largest and finest building in Uruguay, the"^- fo'»" 
only monument left to the little Republic by the ,f-. \^^].^ 
Jesuits, and one of the four bequeathed by that "^ ^- 
order to the countries that have since grown out 
of the old Spanish Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, 
Devoid of all tawdry attempts at magnificence, it 
is a specimen of architecture to delight the eye 
with its solid restfulness of outline. In it the most 
august ceremonies of the Romish Church are 
performed. Here I witnessed the ceremony of the 
" Holy Function of Blessing the Candles," per- 
formed by "The Most Holy Bishop of Uruguay." 

When the bell in the great tower rang at nine 
o'clock in the morning, the long aisles were al- 
ready crowded. From behind the crimson cur- 
tains at the entrance of the left transept came a 
procession of small boys each carrying a long 
silver standard with a wax taper. The boys were 
followed by priests ranged according to their sev- 



46 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

eral orders. The first in long black robes and 
bareheaded. The next added their pointed sacer- 
dotal caps. Then one, aged and tottering, walked 
alone, in a faded purple mantle. Others followed 
in short linen gowns, and last came the Bishop, 
whose feeble steps were supported by a priest on 
either side, who, over their black gowns, wore 
linen overskirts trimmed with deep lace reaching 
to the knee, and over their shoulders rich satin 
surplices covered with heavy gold embroidery. 
The Bishop also wore the long linen overdress 
bordered with deep lace, and his square satin sur- 
plice was even more elaborately embroidered than 
those of his supporters. On his head he wore a 
high, pointed satin cap, in shape not unlike one 
sometimes seen on the head of a small boy in 
pictures of the village school. 

The procession went three times around the 
high altar, each time saluting the image of " The 
Queen of Heaven" that filled the niche over it. 
The Bishop was then conducted to his reading 
desk, opposite to which, on the platform, chairs 
were placed for the priests. - He then intoned a 
short address. Whether in Latin, Spanish, or 
Guarani it mattered little, as the only part dis- 
tinguishable was the syllable on, which occurred 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



A7 



at regular intervals and was much prolonged. 
Throughout he kept up a feeble motion with his 
hands, which was probably meant as an invocation 
of the " Mother of God," as in making it he 
turned his eyes toward the image, gorgeous in 
satin, lace, and jewels. 

The address ended, he was seated on the plat- 
form opposite to the priests, and an armful of can- 
dles about three feet long laid beside him. Each 
priest then in turn knelt to the image, then to the 
Bishop, kissed the Bishop's ring, received a candle 
from his hand, again knelt to the image, and re- 
turned to his chair. The supporters who waited 
upon him throughout also received each a candle, 
kneeling and kissing the ring. More armfuls of 
candles were brought in. The boys who acted as 
torch-bearers and bell-ringers next each knelt, 
kissed the ring, and received a candle. (I was told 
that these boys and all who appear in similar cer- 
emonies are hired for the occasion, a re-dl being 
the usual price paid by the priests for such services.) 

The procession again formed and made the 
round of the cathedral with ringing of bells, 
swinging of censers, and the chanting of priests. 
It halted and burned incense before each of the 
twelve images in the side aisles. Before two of 



48 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

them the poor old Bishop knelt painfully and 
wrung his hands imploringly. (He died soon after 
this. He was spoken of as a " good man," an un- 
usual reputation for a priest.) When he had once 
more been conducted to his seat, many persons in 
the assembly who had brought candles with them 
took them to him to be sanctified by his touch. 
They, too, knelt first to the image, then to the 
Bishop, and kissed the ring. Some of these pri- 
vate candles, representing wealth, were long enough 
to serve as walking-sticks and were profusely or- 
namented. Others would cost not more than a 
penny. But whether they represented poverty or 
wealth, the evident satisfaction with which they 
were carried away was the same. The exhausted 
Bishop was at last pompously reconducted behind 
the crimson curtains, whither more candles and 
more devotees followed him. 

The audience lingered. Two priests in heavy 
gold-embroidered mantles came before the high 
altar and conducted a service that consisted princi- 
pally of ringing bells, burning incense, and repeat- 
edly seating themselves in high-backed chairs, over 
the backs of which the boys in waiting straightened 
their mantles. The people meantime knelt in the 
body of the church and many bowed to the floor. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



49 



After this, a third priest in satin took his stand 
before the Altar of Indulgences at the head of the 
right aisle and began a ceremony before the silk- 
robed image that stood with outstretched hand 
above it. Among her votaries I noticed two old 
women in the garments of poverty, who, kneeling, 
bowed their stiffened bodies painfully till their 
haggard faces were pressed to the floor, then 
raised themselves laboriously only to repeat the 
process. 

Almost every week witnesses some " High Fun- 
cion" in the cathedral, and no day in the calendar 
but is marked for some special religious ceremony 
in honor of some object of worship. For, although 
the capital city of Uruguay is a commercial empo- 
rium, it is also a " city of the gods" or rather of 
the goddesses, as these seem to have the pre-em- 
inence, alike in numbers, costly paraphernalia, and 
devotion. Other churches in different parts of the 
city are only less imposing than the Matriz. 
Also, a few shrines in the walls on the streets ac- 
commodate the pedestrian worshipper. Monasteries 
and nunneries are seen in all directions, and rep- 
resentatives of numerous " orders" are encoun- 
tered everywhere. Many of the signs over shop 

doors make rather astounding revelations, such as — 
c d 5 



JO LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

that poor Job keeps coffins, St. Peter is a baker, 
Jesus Christ a confectioner, etc. 

Montevideo has two Protestant churches, both 
located in the old part of the city, and both easily 
reached by street cars. The first was built by 
English residents in 1846. In it the Anglican 
Episcopal service is maintained under the control 
of the " South American Missionary Society," for 
the convenience and comfort of British subjects. 
Services in the Spanish language were added in 
1880. The other is that of the Methodist Epis- 
copal denomination, whose service is maintained 
by the " Foreign Missionary Society" of that or- 
ganization in the United States. It stationed a 
minister here in 1875, In 1882 the old theatre 
that had served it as a place of v/orship was re- 
paired and remodelled at a cost of ^2500. Of 
this sum ^1000 was donated by the Government 
of Uruguay. The work of these two societies and 
of the Bible societies of the United States and 
Great Britain are the only advantage yet taken by 
Protestant Christendom of the decree of religious 
toleration promulgated by the Government of Uru- 
guay at the beginning of its existence. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



51 



CHAPTER III. 



POPULAR AMUSEMENTS. 



The tiirtulia, or dancing party, is a favorite amuse- 
ment of Montevideans, scarcely second to religious 
festivals. But of all amusements the bull-fight 
seems to meet the highest appreciation. 

The bull-ring is three miles beyond the city limit. 
A hollow brick wall, twenty feet high, encloses a 
circular tract of several acres. The upper seats are 
on a level with the platform at the top of the waU. 
Within the wall and under the seats are the com- 
partments for the horses, the cages for the bulls, 
dressing-rooms for the actors, the home of the 
janitor, and a drinking-saloon. The best private 
box belongs to the government. Over it is the 
Uruguay coat-of-arms, and it is always occupied by 
government officials. The President of the Repub- 
lic holds the post of honor as head of the bull- 
fight, as does the king in Spain. The manager's 
box is opposite to that of the government. From 



52 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

it, with his keen eye, he directs the entertainments. 
There are several boxes taken by the aristocracy 
and one by the municipality. Aside from these 
there are seats for 7000 spectators and standing 
room for about loco. A ticket for an open seat 
costs $$. The Tauromachian Company is as regu- 
larly organized as any opera troupe. They come 
from Spain, where all the actors are trained and 
all the rules governing them made. 

Sunday is the day for bull-fights, although a feast 
day is occasionally honored by one. " The Season" 
begins in December, and lasts about four months, 
during which time the exhibition is opened regu- 
larly at three o'clock in the afternoon. For days 
beforehand the newspapers are full of sensational 
advertisements, and for days succeeding reviews give 
technical details, and artistic criticisms crowd out 
other matter. Spectators come from Buenos Ayres 
and more remote places by hundreds. Steamers 
make special excursions for them. 

When the hour has arrived, and all is in readi- 
ness, the President of the Republic, in behalf of 
the nation, indicates to the manager that the sport 
may begin. The manager gives the signal. The 
band strikes up a spirited march, and three picadores, 
three banderilleros, and two espadas enter, march 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 53 

around the arena, and salute the government offi- 
cials. The picadores are horsemen wearing padded 
trousers, lined with cowhide, to prevent the horns 
of the bull penetrating the flesh. They wear broad- 
brimmed hats. Brilliant capes hang gracefully over 
the arm. The bandcrilleros wear knee-breeches, 
magnificently embroidered down the sides in parti- 
colors. The waists are a glittering net-work of jet. 
They wear black caps and small capes, and carry 
slender rods about a foot long, with a barb on one 
end and a tassel on the other. The cspadas are 
dressed in satin, yellow or some other bright color. 
Their knee-breeches are elaborately embroidered 
with red, white, and green. The upper part of 
their dress is a blaze of silver or gold embroidery, 
and throws scintillations of light with every step. 
They wear black caps, glowing capes, and long 
swords, well calculated to set off faces full of 
haughty pride, fire, and cruelty. 

When the gate is opened the bull (which has 
already been tortured in its cell) bounds into the 
arena, and is saluted with the firing of torpedoes. 
He is expected to look around him, panting, and 
paw the earth furiously. If he fail in these indi- 
cations of spirit the trainer is ready to commit 
suicide. For a native trainer to produce a bull 
5* 



54 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

more fierce than those imported from Spain is to 
make a hero of him, and a public ovation is given 
him. While the bull is pawing the earth a picadore 
rides up and flaunts his cape or a red flag in the 
animal's face. The bull rushes at full speed upon 
horse and rider, but just as its horns are lowered 
to gore them the rider makes a quick turn, and 
another picadore flaunts the hated color before its 
eyes. They thus draw the danger from each other. 
Sometimes a bull kills as many as eight horses in 
succession, and as their entrails drag the ground 
the air rings with the applause of the spectators. 
The more horses a bull can kill before yielding to 
its fate the greater the eclat of the occasion, the 
brighter the smiles of the ladies, and the louder 
the huzzas of the populace. As poor old horses 
are selected for these honors the financial loss is 
inconsiderable, and the honor of* despatching them 
might not be without moral weight if it were done 
with more humanity. Sometimes horse and rider 
share the same fate. 

When the bull is thoroughly maddened to frenzy, 
the banderilleros dance about him watching their 
chance to thrust a dart into his neck. The bull 
grows frantic, and his tormentors dance in and out 
of the arena like evil spirits, clad in dazzling gar- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



55 



ments, tempting death in every motion. As he 
grows more terrible in his fury they increase in 
daring agih'ty. At length the cspada presents him- 
self before the manager and begs permission to kill 
the bull. Bowing low in acknowledgment of the 
favor, he advances with proud bearing, sword in 
hand, over which is thrown a gay cloth. Now 
comes the thrilling part of the exhibition, to which 
all that has preceded has been simply introductory. 
The tormentors grow more daring, darting reck- 
lessly under the horns of the bull, running before 
him with only their trailing capes between them and 
death. Yet is there method in their recklessness. 
They must keep the creature within certain limits, 
where he can most advantageously be met by the 
espada, who, in the mean time, keeps close by his 
side, watching his opportunity to make the fatal 
sword thrust. By his anatomical knowledge he 
knows when to seize the auspicious moment, and 
" the brute with a soul and the brute without a soul 
meet in the almost equal contest for life." If the 
first thrust does not prove fatal the chase must be 
renewed. 

When the bull falls the troop of tormentors circle 
around him, waving their brilliant capes in exulta- 
tion. The bands strike up triumphant strains, 



56 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

rockets are fired, and the spectators are tumultuous 
with their acclamations, as were the old Romans in 
the gladiatorial contests. Horses are brought into 
the arena drawing a pair of low wheels, to which 
the carcass is attached and hurried through the exit 
gateway, and a fresh victim is admitted. Usually 
six, sometimes eight, bulls are killed for an after- 
noon's entertainment. 

Sea-bathing ranks next after the bull-fight as a 
summer diversion. The smooth, sandy, gently- 
sloping beaches extending on either side of the 
city afford the best of facilities, to which are added 
the conveniences of dressing-rooms and bathing- 
carts for those amphibiously inclined. For their 
further accommodation street-car tracks are ex- 
tended to the several playas. A legal enactment 
forbids men and women bathing together, but the 
adjacent portions of be^ch assigned to each are so 
near together that a single boat, detailed from the 
life-saving service to hover near during bathing 
hours^is supposed to give sufficient security to both 
companies. 

The women dress as tastefully for the water as for 
their every other appearance in public. But the 
bathing costume of the men reminds one of the 
South Sea Islander, who, under the civilizing in- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



57 



fluence of missionary effort, renounced barbarism 
and appeared in full-dress, — with nothing on but a 
standing collar. 

The evidently modest intent of the legislators is 
somewhat foiled by the arrangement which places 
the women's bathing places farther from the city 
than those for the men, thus necessitating passing 
them in going and returning. 

The water is about half salt, — that is, the ocean 
and river water are mingled in about equal propor- 
tions, and a free indulgence is recommended by 
local physicians. Bathers sit rather than swim in 
the water. Many ladies go provided with gloves, 
sun-hats, and parasols to preserve their complexions, 
and sit in the water neck-deep one, two, three, or 
even four hours at a time. Others take two hours 
in the morning and again two in the afternoon. 
The impression prevails that it is healthful to take 
some food immediately after leaving the water, and 
for this purpose some milch cows are brought near 
the entrance to the bath-houses, from which those 
wishing it can get a glass of warm milk. Cakes and 
bread can also be bought at these stands. The 
Montevideo baths are yearly becoming more pop- 
ular, and by them the elite are attracted to the city 
from the interior and from the cities of the Argen- 



5 8 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

tine Republic. Fashionable life may be thus summed 
up during the bathing season : Morning baths be- 
tween nine and eleven o'clock, breakfast from eleven 
to one, then siesta. Afternoon baths from three to 
five, dinner from six to eight, then the turtiilia, 
theatre, or social evening ; on Sunday the bull-fight. 
It would be hard to imagine a pleasanter recrea- 
tion than a drive or stroll down the Paseo Molino, 
a suburban street of delightful residences in every 
style of architecture, from the light, airy pagoda to 
the solid Ionian, surrounded by ample grounds, as 
artistic in design as the homes they supplement. 
The Paseo Molino ends at the " Prado," a Central or 
Fairmount Park, of which the citizens have all the 
advantage without having borne any of the cost. 
Many years ago a Mr. Buschenthal bought a large 
tract of land here and undertook to convert it into 
an earthly paradise. Groves of Brazilian, Austra- 
lian, and Indian trees were transplanted to this estate. 
Brooklets were made to meander through romantic 
little glens and wildernesses of shrubbery. Foun- 
tains and tiny lakes sparkled in the sunlight, and 
plaster water-nymphs peeped from leafy coverts in 
imitation of Italian and Grecian art glories. After a 
time the paradise scheme was abandoned and the 
" Prado" offered for sale ; but no purchaser appeared. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 59 

The city fathers looked into the treasury and shook 
their heads. A few fragments were sold and turned 
into suburban homes, but the main part of the 
estate still lies open to pleasure-seekers. The 
family mansion is falling to decay. 

The city has expended quite a sum on a little 
paradise scheme of its own at Villa Colon, twelve 
miles from the city around the curve of the bay. 
It is a park of noble dimensions, in which green turf 
and colonnades of majestic trees are the chief 
characteristics. As no trees grow indigenously in 
this locality save the cactus and agave (if these may 
be called trees), great labor is required to accom- 
plish such a result. Villa Colon is reached by a 
pleasant railroad ride around the base of the grass- 
covered " Mount," which affords a fine view of both 
city and bay. Around the latter are anchored the 
British and American fleets, also one or more men- 
of-war bearing the German, French, and Brazilian 
colors, possibly those also of other nations. Such 
representatives of the civilized world are usually 
hovering about the mouth of the La Plata ; for, 
while treaties are acknowledged as good in their 
way, the opinion seems to prevail that they are more 
effective with a few guns close at hand. 

Immediately beyond the city suburbs the country 



6o LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

presents a rather dreary aspect, with a few small 
patches of cultivated ground surrounded by hedges 
of cactus and agave. The species of agave thus 
utilized is that cultivated as a house plant in some 
portions of the United States under the fictitious 
title of " century plant." When seven years old, or 
thereabout, the plant sends up a flower-stalk from 
the centre of its tuft of stiff leaves to the height of 
about twenty feet. The top of this flower-stalk is 
crowned by a huge raceme of yellowish-white flow- 
ers. Shooting up at regular intervals, a row of 
these flower- stalks bears a not unapt resemblance 
to a grove of young palm trees. After blooming 
the plant dies. But as a cluster of new ones spring 
from the roots, the agave is practically an undying, 
although a rather cumbrous hedge. The leaves, 
each ending in a thorn, are about four feet high. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. gi 



CHAPTER IV. 

BURIAL CUSTOMS. 

My attention was one day attracted by a funeral 
procession wending its way through the city streets 
to the cemetery. In a city of more than a hundred 
thousand inhabitants, a funeral procession is usually 
nothing remarkable, yet this procession impressed 
me as deserving that distinction. It was wholly of 
girls of (judging from their size) from ten to four- 
teen years of age. Each wore a square mantle 
shaped like those the priests wear while performing 
mass, on the back of which was a gilt cross. The 
open coffin was carried by the larger girls. The 
exposed corpse — of a girl apparently the same age 
-as the bearers — was surrounded with flowers. Im- 
mediately behind the coffin walked a girl carrying, 
upright, the coffin lid, on the full length of which 
was a gilt cross. After her the girls of the proces- 
sion walked in pairs. 

Not infrequently funeral processions are seen 
where the coffin is carried by men, followed by a 



62 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

long procession of empty carriages. Indeed, eti- 
quette demands that any one of the gente decente 
above the rank of a pauper shall be carried by hand 
a part of the way to his last home. The corpse 
may be carried a block or a mile before being 
placed in the hearse, but the distance is always 
commensurate with the social position of the 
deceased, or with his claims upon the public for 
posthumous honors. Those who form the proces- 
sion ride back from the cemetery in the carriages. 
Women do not attend funerals. 

The Montevideo cemetery is said to be the most 
beautiful city of the dead in the southern hemi- 
sphere. It is a large enclosure surrounded on one 
side by the bay and on all others by a high wall 
seven feet thick. Two other walls of nearly the 
same height and double the thickness divide the 
enclosure into three parts. In the first, well-kept 
walks wind gracefully among clumps of evergreens 
and shrubs of fragrant bloom, among which are 
many costly monuments. Behind the first wall are 
more humble graves over which the green grass 
creeps, mingled with tufts of wild flowers. The 
surrounding and dividing walls are piles of graves, 
or tiers of cells just large enough to admit a coffin 
endwise, and when it is in place the opened arch is 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



63 



again closed up with masonry and whitewashed 
over. On this space friends may hang memorial 
wreaths and other symbols of their grief The most 
common device is a wreath of large flowers made 
out of black and white beads. These niches or 
cells in the walls a,re rented for one, two, or more 
years, and the body is suffered to remain as long 
as the rent is kept paid, but if it falls into arrears 
the tenant is ejected and the place made ready 
for another occupant. A visit to this cemetery 
suggests several scriptural allusions, such as of 
" whited walls" filled with " dead men's bones." 
And the rejoicing that Christ's body was laid in 
a nezv tomb, " wherein never man before was laid," 
and "saw not corruption," takes on new significance. 
There is a beautiful little chapel in the first 
division of the cemetery, in which the burial service 
may be performed. In a crypt beneath it now rest 
the ashes of the once famous Gaucho bandit, 
Artigas, whom the Orientals* now honor as the 
liberator of his country and the preserver of its 
independence. To receive this honor from his 
countrymen, his body was at length recalled from 



* This is the name by which the inhabitants of Uruguay are 
familiarly known. 



64 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

Paraguay, where his last years were spent under the 
protection of the tyrant Dictator, Francia. Such 
posthumous honors have been quite in vogue in 
the La Plata countries. Pizarro gave the Spanish- 
Americans the example of honoring slaughtered 
slaughterers with magnificent /unerals and state 
mourners, an example they have shown no disposi- 
tion to neglect. 

When the visitor tires of the adulation of earthly 
glory, and wishes to penetrate the veil that separates 
Paradise from Purgatory, he need only step through 
the second wall to the space behind the potters* 
field that has become the receptacle of the bankrupt 
tenants of the walls. There, if so inclined, he may 
gather human skeletons at will. Birds and insects, 
—nature's scavengers, — the dews of heaven, rain, 
and falling sea-spray are cleansing and bleaching 
them. 

The English cemetery occupies a square in 
another part of the city, where the dead sleep under 
grassy mounds shaded with trees, enclosed by a 
simple wall. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 65 



CHAPTER V. 

BUSINESS CONVENIENCES. 

An early acquaintance with its currency is essen- 
tial to a comfortable existence in any foreign coun- 
try. Fortunately for the stranger, the monetary 
system of Uruguay has arrived at a simple solidity, 
in which the peso, or dollar, is the unit of value. 
Its fractions and multiples follow the decimal sys- 
tem. One-dollar, two-and-a-half dollar, five-dollar, 
and ten-dollar pieces are of gold. Their paper 
representatives have the same commercial value 
within the Republic, and, to a limited extent, along 
its borders. In silver there are the one-real, two- 
real, five-real, and one-peso {$) coins. The five-real 
piece is the Uruguayan half-dollar, but the confusing 
quarter has no existence. The Uruguayan peso is 
worth one dollar and four cents of United States 
gold. In copper there are the cobre (cent), vinten, 
and dos-vintens. The vinteji is a double cob7^e, or 

two cents, and the dos-vintens, as its name indicates, 
e 6* 



^Q LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

is a double vinten, or four cents, a coin sufficiently 
unwieldy to insure its speedy banishment from 
among any people with whom " a big thing" is not 
the ultimatum of ambition. 

The following is a convenient table of Uruguayan 
currency : 

2 cobres = i vinten, 

2 vintens = i dos-vintens, 
5 dos-vintens = l real, 
lo reals = i peso, marked $. 

English and Chilian gold, Brazilian gold and 
silver, and Bolivian silver are also in circulation, 
and money-changers are eager to accommodate 
their unhappy possessers with a liberal shave and 
a balance. There are several foreign and local 
banks doing business in the city, noticeable among 
which is " The London and River Platte Bank, Lim- 
ited," that has the right to issue bills for circulation. 
Its banking-house is one of the best buildings in 
the city devoted to business. 

The better to facilitate its commercial interests, 
in i88i the Uruguayan Congress passed a bill 
to incorporate a national bank with a capital of 
;^ 10,000,000, to be subscribed in ^100 shares; the 
bank to be located in Montevideo, with branches in 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



67 



other towns of the Republic, as the interests of the 
various Departments may require. It is the expec- 
tation of those who have advocated this step that 
the policy of making it possible for citizens of even 
moderate means to become partners with the gov- 
ernment in the creation and control of the national 
currency will prove as advantageous and give as 
solid a basis for national credit as it has done 
in the United States. 

The nation is not only learning how to create a 
stable currency, but also how to control its expen- 
ditures. In 1882 the national outlay was only 
^5000 in excess of its income; and to prevent even 
this deficit in the future, the Finance Committee 
raised the tariff on imports, making a discrimina- 
tion between those needed for the development of the 
country and those contributing to the luxuries of life. 

No institution of a country is of more interest to 
the foreign resident, or visited with more solicitude, 
than the post-office. Nor is this interest wholly 
selfish, as nothing so much facilitates good govern- 
ment and the tranquillity of the people as the means 
of ready communication, which insures against the 
possibility of surprises and insurrections. Nothing 
more surely indicates the advancement that this 
country has made in the past decade, or augurs 



68 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

more favorably for its future stability, than the in- 
crease in its postal service. In Montevideo a cred- 
itable and commodious building in a central location 
is devoted to its use, and in it business is transacted 
with a decorum and accuracy that would be no 
discredit to the capital city of an older nation. 
According to the records of the Postal Department 
for 1883 there are 294 post-offices in Uruguay, and 
during the year a million ordinary letters, twenty 
thousand registered letters, seventy thousand gov- 
ernment despatches, and a million newspapers passed 
through the mail. Local letter postage is five cents 
per ounce, and foreign postage ten cents per half 
ounce. 

The possibility of speedy intercommunication is 
further facilitated by telegraph lines that connect the 
principal towns and villages of the interior with the 
capital. A subfluvial telegraph connects the cities 
of Montevideo and Buenos Ayres, and in 1883 a 
contract was made between the Governments of 
Uruguay and the Argentine Republic by which the 
Uruguayan land lines might be extended to the 
Island of Martin Garcia, in the La Plata River, be- 
longing to the Argentine Republic, and there con- 
nect with its land lines. Through Buenos Ayres, 
by way of the Argentine Transandine Telegraph, 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



69 



Uruguay has communication with the Pacific coast. 
A submarine telegraph binds Montevideo to Rio de 
Janeiro via Rio Grande. A cable extends from Rio 
de Janeiro to St. Vincents, Cape Verde Islands, and 
thence to Liverpool. Other cables make Liverpool 
next-door neighbor to New York. By this round- 
about route a telegraphic communication may be 
sent from the commercial emporium in latitude 34° 
53' -south to the commercial emporium in 40^ 42' 
43" north at the rate of ;^4 per word. Every initial 
letter in the address and signature of a cable mes- 
sage is counted as a separate word. 

By government telegraph between Montevideo 
and Rio de Janeiro a message costs forty cents 
per word, or sixty cents per codc-ivord. The 
Western and Brazilian Telegraph Company, between 
the same cities, charges one dollar and sixty cents 
per word. By either line the message is sent in 
Spanish or English at the same price. Local 
messages and those transmitted to the Argentine 
Republic cost twice as much if sent in English 
as the same number of words in Spanish. The 
telegraphs, like the railroads and many other 
modern conveniences, are the result of English 
capital seeking profitable investment. 

On taking a seat in a street-car, a comfortable 



^O LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

sense of home is experienced on reading the gilt 
legend over the door, " Stevenson & Co., New 
York," and when the conductor makes his round, 
tearing off now a blue, now a yellow, now a red 
or green ticket, happy is he who escapes the giddy 
whirl through his brain of — 

" A pink strip slip for a five-cent fare. 
A blue strip slip for a six-cent fare. 
Punch in the presence of the passenjair." 

Almost every part of Montevideo and its 
suburbs (which in 1883 included more than 
one hundred thousand inhabitants) can easily 
be reached by street-car. The routes are in 
circuits, going by one street and returning by 
another, so that there is no inconvenience of 
switching and waiting in passing, except where 
different routes unite. On street Dies-y-oclw there 
are double tracks. Although American cars are 
in use, these lines are not built or operated on 
American capital. 

The street-car is not the only reminder of 
American enterprise. The telephone was intro- 
duced in 1882, and within a year three hundred 
miles of line were in use. The ubiquitous rocking- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



71 



chair bids fair to extend its empire from pole to 
pole as soon as navigation is opened. 

In 1859, the year in which its national existence 
was guaranteed, the importation of twelve thousand 
chairs (not all rocking-chairs) represented the bulk 
of Uruguay's trade with the United States; and, 
although agricultural implements have followed 
in their wake, the weary traveller who yields to 
the soothing sway that has from childhood banished 
his cares, can reflect that, in one part of the world 
at least, the rocking-chair and not the plough is 
the pioneer of civilization. 

Fifty-seven steamships arrive in Montevideo Bay 
from Europe per month. Twelve of these are 
from each of the three countries, England, France, 
and Portugal, nine from Germany, six from Spain, 
four from Italy, and two from Germany. There 
is not an important European city on the coast 
of the Atlantic and Mediterranean that is not 
thus brought into direct monthly or weekly com- 
munication with this port. 

Of English lines, " The Royal Mail" from South- 
ampton, and the " Pacific Mail" are most popular 
with the travelling public. First-class passage 
by them from England to Montevideo is from 
;^30 to £zS) ^"^^ the passage is. sometimes made 



72 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



in twenty-six days. The former go no farther. 
The latter proceed around Cape Horn to San 
Francisco, or intermediate points. Vessels from 
Australia via Cape Horn also touch at Montevideo. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE REPUBLIC OF URUGUAY. 

Of the fifteen provinces of the old Spanish Vice- 
royalty of Buenos Ayres that for a generation be- 
wildered themselves and the world with the chaotic 
cry of " Unitario" and " Federal," Uruguay is now 
the sole representative of the Unitario idea, — that 
is, a republican government, but not a federal re- 
public. Its territorial limits, from 30° to 35° south 
latitude, and from 53° to 58° 30' west longitude, 
embrace an area of sixty-nine thousand eight 
hundred and thirty-five square miles, — more than 
thirteen times the area of Connecticut, and a little 
less than thirteen times that of Massachusetts. This 
area is in thirteen divisions, called Departments, 
which vary considerably in size. Taking an average, 
each Department has a larger territorial extent than 



sis Longitude 1^ 



;Vest r.G liam Greeiortcli .y 



.TT^t 



Ai-ea G9,833 ^q.^l. 
Pop.in 1883-438 245. 

Railroads 



Lj^ Telegraphs. 




OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



73 



Connecticut, and it will be but a trifling exaggeration 
to regard the Repiiblica Oriental del Uruguay as a 
confederation of thirteen States of the size of Mas- 
sachusetts. As integral parts of the government, how- 
ever, the Departments more nearly correspond with 
the divisions known in the United States as counties, 
parishes, or shires, with the added idea conveyed 
by the terms congressional and senatorial district. 

The national legislative body consists of Senate 
and House of Representatives. There is one senator 
from each Department, who is elected for six years. 
The House of Representatives has forty members, 
who are elected for three years. Congress holds an 
annual session from the 15th of February till the 
30th of June. In the interim, the general control 
of the administration is vested in a committee of 
two senators and five representatives. According 
to the Constitution, the President is elected for a 
term of four years, and cannot be his own successor. 
But after one term has elapsed he is again eligible. 

Streams of water or the crests of the low mountain 
ranges which divide the prairies in all directions are 
the natural boundaries of the Departments. The 
highest land in Uruguay is in the Department of 
Minas, and only reaches an elevation of two thou- 
sand five hundred feet above sea level. The climate 
B 7 



74 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



of these thirteen LiHputian States can nowhere be 
excelled. Frost sometimes, and snow more rarely, 
visits the table-lands in' midwinter, — that is, in July 
and August, but winter as known in Massachu- 
setts would be utterly incomprehensible to one 
acquainted only with Uruguayan skies. The prox- 
imity of the ocean also insures it against the 
droughts often experienced in less favored sections, 
and renders the oppressive heat of more inland 
States an impossibility. The mercury ranges from 
32° to 88° Fahrenheit, occasionally rising to 100° 
in the plains. The climate is not only exceedingly 
pleasant, but also extremely healthful ; and although 
the " fountain of perpetual youth" may not be found 
within its borders, premature death is much more 
likely to result from accidental than natural causes. 

Few continental nations commanding no greater 
area offer a more extended coast-line to facilitate 
commercial intercourse. To its two hundred miles 
of Atlantic coast it adds one hundred and fifty-five 
miles on the La Plata estuary, — from Maldonada 
Point (which is practically sea-coast), — and two 
hundred and seventy miles on the Uruguay River. 
A total available shore-line of six hundred and 
twenty-five miles. 

From the Brazilian boundary to Point Maldonada 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 75 

the coast is low and sandy, and presents no natural 
harbors of importance. But after passing this point 
it is high and rocky, with natural inlets waiting to 
be whitened with the busy sails of the world's inter- 
change. The lower part of the Uruguay River also 
is an estuary, which is an inland archipelago. The 
islands and coast are both low, and in seasons of 
freshet are liable to be overflowed, but present no 
greater obstructions to navigation than do the Ohio 
and Mississippi Rivers under the same circum- 
stances. 

The Uruguayan timber growth is confined to 
the ranges of low mountains and to the banks of 
water-courses, and cannot compare with that of 
the interior of the continent, nor yet with the 
undestroyed forests of the United States. Yet they 
offer sufficient supplies for the ordinary needs of 
its agricultural population, and may easily be 
made accessible in the prairie districts that sep- 
arate them and constitute the greater part of the 
Republic. In the timber districts an occasional 
walnut and mulberry tree are the North Amer- 
ican acquaintances that greet us, but for the most 
part the forests present a tangled, thorny growth 
unfit for lumber. 

In the legislation of Uruguay, thought was 



^6 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

early turned to the possibility of augmenting its 
population from the overflow of Europe. But the 
state of armed unrest that had existed throughout 
the entire period during which the European eye 
had been suffered to penetrate its borders, had 
made an impression not calculated to call forth 
an enthusiastic response to the statement made by 
its government that its territory was open to im- 
migration. For several years that invitation scarce 
attracted one out of a million who were bidding 
adieu to the land of their fathers to become "Pil- 
lars of State" in newer countries. Even these 
scattering units from the throng of emigrants 
were followed by the trembling forebodings of 
those they left. Great Britain still gives to its 
children who go to the South American countries 
the assurance of an assisted passage home again 
if it be needed : an assurance it gives to its emi- 
grants to no other part of the world. 

But notwithstanding the unfavorable impression 
of the past, and the still too positive proof of fre- 
quent barbarities, the undeniable excellence of the 
country in all its physical aspects, added to the 
most delightful and desirable climate, is year by 
year deflecting a greater number from the strong 
tide of emigration flowing from Europe to North 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



77 



America and Australia. In 1883 Uruguay re- 
ceived the unprecedented number of 15,000. 

In the comparative security to peaceful avoca- 
tions enjoyed for the past few years, the Orientals 
themselves are beginning to realize that their true 
interests lie in the promotion of agricultural in- 
dustry and enlightened labor. As an exponent of 
this idea, and to further its development, " The 
Rural Association of Uruguay" has been organ- 
ized, and is modelled after similar associations in 
the United States and Great Britain. It held its 
first "fair" in the spring of 1883. This exhibit 
showed an encouraging condition of the various 
rural industries thus far undertaken, chief of which 
is sheep and cattle raising. The average value of 
sheep was then ^i per head, of cattle $6, and of 
horses and mules ^5. The exposicion was carried 
on with all the grandiose formality without which 
a La Plata exhibit of the most insignificant kind 
would be an utter impossibility. "A Spaniard is 
nothing if not courtly," and his La Plata de- 
scendant can do nothing unless he does it with 
courtliness. 

Immigration and agriculture go hand-in-hand. 
In 1 87 1 even the environs of Montevideo were a 
desert from which the tread of armies had almost 
7* 



78 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

obliterated the vestiges of the chacras that gave 
to the insignificant population of the town a 
scanty supply of fruits and vegetables. In 1883 
the Republic had 500,000 acres in cultivation. 
Wheat and Indian corn are the staple crops, and 
both give good returns for moderate labor. Gang 
ploughs are superseding the cumbrous implements 
of the past in tearing up the virgin soil of the 
prairies, and self-binding reapers and steam thresh- 
ers follow in their wake. 

In the new order of things the time-honored 
cactus and agave hedges are found of too slow 
growth to meet the pressing need, and already 
;^ 10,000,000 worth of wire fence is assisting in 
keeping Uruguay's million horses, eight million 
cattle, and sixteen million sheep out of its grain 
fields. Almost every British ship that anchors in 
its roadstead brings an additional supply to meet 
the demand that must go on increasing until its 
thirty-five million acres of pasture lands as well as 
the cultivated fields are bounded in and cut up to 
keep pace with the more enlightened ideas that 
are dawning. The culture of cotton and sugar- 
cane preceded that of the cereals, and continues 
to give fair returns. Soil and climate combine 
to give all the possibilities of the most luscious 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. yg 

fruits, and even with the crude knowledge brought 
to their culture, pears, apples, peaches, and apri- 
cots delight the eye, even when their flavor proves 
disappointing. But no disappointment attends an 
intimate acquaintance with its lemons, oranges, 
prunes, and figs, unless it be that one " must learn 
to like" the latter, which are more insipid in their 
fresh state than when dried, and the skin gives a 
hint of an unripe persimmon. 

Easy means of transportation, one of the first 
requisites of agricultural communities, is yet want- 
ing in Uruguay. It has only three hundred and 
seventy-five miles of railroad in operation and 
ninety-four more contracted. Of this the Central 
Uruguay Railroad Company has two hundred and 
seventy-seven miles in operation and forty-three in 
construction. The Salto Railroad, when finished, 
will be one hundred and twelve miles long, but now 
only reaches out sixty-two miles toward the north- 
ern frontier, while the Northern Railroad has only 
thirteen miles, and tHe Peste twenty-three. It is 
thus evident that the horse of flesh is still much 
more the dependence of the people than the horse 
of iron. For an indefinite future the pack-horse 
and bullock-cart are likely to remain the chief ser- 
vants of commerce. As in few, if any, portions of 



8o LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

the globe railroads could be more easily constructed, 
and as capitalists are always in search of good in- 
vestments, it is naturally inferred that political un- 
certainties have prevented further investments of 
this kind. As the resources of the country were 
long drained by continual warfare, it must depend 
on foreign capital for such improvements. 

Unfortunately, Uruguay does not yet give the im- 
pression of perfect security of person and property 
within her borders. If the existence of an armed 
force could give such security, capital need seek no 
farther. For so small a country it has a strong 
military enrolment. With only 438,245 on its cen- 
sus list, it has 4500 in its standing army, 3200 in 
its military police force, and 20,000 in the national 
guard. This gives one military for every fourteen 
of the population, or, allowing the small average of 
four children to a family, every second able-bodied 
man is an enrolled soldier. 

Like the United States, Uruguay professes to 
elect its Chief Executive by ballot for a term of 
four years, but its method of exercising the elective 
franchise, like many other practices in vogue, is 
more nearly allied to that of the old Republic of 
Rome, and the voters have yet to convince the 
world that in their vocabulary ballots and bullets 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 8l 

are not synonymous terms. The exciting political 
campaign of 1882, when the stronger military fol- 
lowing of General Maximo Santos compelled Presi- 
dent Vidal to resign, and placed Santos in the 
executive chair, was not a convincing argument to 
that effect. In the campaign the time-honored po- 
litical tactics and electioneering manoeuvres of armed 
bands scouring the plains and lurking in the wooded 
highlands were freely indulged, followed by the like- 
wise time-honored sequel of assassinations to es- 
tablish public tranquillity. 

Scarce had the political adjustment been recog- 
nized as established, and the rancor attending it died 
away, when the capital was again thrown into wild 
excitement by the announcement of inhuman bar- 
barities practised on two Italian prisoners confined 
in the Montevideo cabildo. Upon the discovery of 
these atrocities the diplomatic representatives of 
other nations protested in the name of their several 
governments, some of them going immediately on 
board the foreign war vessels lying in the bay until 
their home governments could be notified of the 
outrage and decide on their course of action. Presi- 
dent Santos made haste to denounce as unauthorized 
and to depose the military jailers by whose orders 
the tortures had been administered. But this action 
/ 



82 LA PLATA COUNTRLES 

could not wholly remove the conviction that a coun- 
try in which such deeds are possible can only be 
regarded as civilized with some mental reserva- 
tions. 

Yet it must be recognized that agencies are at 
work that may in a short time remove the necessity 
of such mental reservations, and are sure to do so 
sooner or later. Among these influences that of 
the press is not insignificant. Twenty-one daily 
newspapers and forty weeklies and monthlies are the 
organs of various political parties, religious orders, 
and business and commercial interests. Discussions 
are carried on in them, often with a degree of acri- 
mony, not always free from offensive personalities, 
that argues a practically absolute freedom in the 
expression of opinion. The same bombastic adula- 
tion, the same magnifying of trifles that characterizes 
public addresses, characterizes much of the editorial 
rnatter and the jottings of correspondents. Al- 
though many of the prominent business men are 
English, and English brain as well as capital is 
expended in some of these enterprises, there is no 
paper published in the English language. Among 
the periodicals of a religious character is El Evan- 
gelista, a neat little paper published by the Metho- 
dists. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



83 



Ever since the expulsion of its Spanish rulers, 
the citizens of Montevideo, of thei^^«/(? q\zs,% have 
shown a commendable interest in the education of 
their children. Formerly private teachers could 
secure enviable salaries. Occasionally such an op- 
portunity may still be found. But this mode of 
instruction is now largely superseded by govern- 
ment schools and private subscription schools. In 
the latter, the courses of study and the prices of 
tuition are as various as the individuals conducting 
them. In the former, a thorough course of mental 
training is contemplated, including instruction in the 
various branches taught in the public schools of 
North America, and, in addition to these, religious 
instruction is given, for which a Catholic priest is 
employed. Thus every public school of Uruguay 
is virtually a church school as truly as the many 
distinctively church schools both in the cities and 
rural districts. In the rural districts, however, edu- 
cational facilities are extremely uncertain and re- 
stricted. According to the report of the Minister 
of Public Instruction for 1883, there were 688 schools 
in Uruguay. This includes all the schools in the 
Republic, — government, church, and private. In 
these 688 schools 1182 teachers were employed, on 
salaries ranging from ;^I5 to ;^200 per month. In 



84 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



them 22,944 boys and 19,592 girls were taught. 
Boys and girls are usually taught in separate schools, 
although occasionally there is a mixed public school, 
and not infrequently very small boys are sent to 
private schools with their sisters. 

Notwithstanding the precaution taken by the 
state to educate the children in the religion of the 
state, it is claimed that the tendency of the public 
schools is to infidelity, and that they are rearing up 
for Uruguay a generation of sceptics. If this be so, 
it is not the first instance in which intellectual ex- 
pansion has had the same result. Whether mental 
discipline will produce infidelity depends on the 
foundation given for religious faith. 

The financial standing of any nation will always 
be measured by other nations by its exports and 
imports. Thus far, the products of its flocks and 
herds has been Uruguay's chief supply for exporta- 
tion. During the four years from 1880 to 1883, 
inclusive, the United States bought of these more 
than twenty and one-half million dollars' worth, 
while it sold to Uruguay of all classes of its mer- 
chandise and manufactures only five and a quarter 
million dollars' worth. It is doubtful whether the 
average Yankee would be willing to accept the in- 
ference that among nations Uruguay is four times 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 8$ 

as important as the United States. Out of that 
twenty-seven and a half million dollars, we paid for 
more than twenty-seven million pounds of wool and 
fourteen and a half million hides. Our busy fac- 
tories have converted the wool into cloth, and the 
hides have largely gone to keep our shoe factories 
supplied ; but the looms of England and France 
have clothed the growers of that wool, and Uru- 
guayan herdsmen do not wear American shoes. 
Yet encouragement may be drawn from this single 
item of the quadrennial showing. In the first year 
of it we sold to them to the value of ^880,371 and 
bought from them nearly six and one-third times 
that amount, while in the last year we sold to them 
to the value of ;^ 1,385, 75 5 and bought from them 
only three times as much. 

Although its foreign associations have mostly 
been with Europe, the nation expresses respect for 
and admiration of the " Great Republic," and would 
gladly accept an interchange of influences, social 
and financial. When the commissioners appointed 
by the United States to visit the several countries 
of South America in the interest of more intimate 
commercial relations reached the capital of Uru- 
guay, in the spring of 1885, they were received 
with every demonstration of welcome, and a grand 



86 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

military parade was given in honor of the occasion. 
The President expressed to them the desire of his 
people to imitate the United States in all things, 
assuring them that only its financial inability pre- 
vented Uruguay from offering a subsidy to a steam- 
ship line to bind the two nations more closely. But 
he added that if such a line should be created, 
they would gladly give to it special privileges in 
the way of harbor dues. 



CHAPTER VII. 

EPITOME OF URUGUAYAN HISTORY. 

Both Spain and Portugal claimed the territory 
of Uruguay under the grant of Pope Alexander 
VI., as well as by discovery, and made settlements 
within its limits. 

This territory was definitely ceded to Spain by 
Portugal by treaties made in 1724, 1750, and 1779, 
and remained a part of the Spanish Viceroyalty 
of Buenos Ayres until the revolution of inde- 
pendence. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 87 

Independence declared . . . July 18, 181 1 
Invaded by Portuguese forces from Brazil . 1813 
Rescued by General Artigas . . . .1814 
Again invaded from Brazil . . . .1816 
Artigas conquered by Brazilians and forced 

to flee from Uruguay . . . . .1821 
Brazil then forced the legislature of Uruguay 

to sign decree of annexation. 
Revolution against Brazil .... 1825 
Independence acknowledged .... 1828 
Constitution proclaimed . . . . . 1831 
General Oribe President of Uruguay when 
treaty of 1828 was signed. Revolution 
against Oribe's government led by Don 
Fructuoso Rivera assisted by Argentine 
exiles and French fleet. Oribe assisted by 
Rosas, Dictator of Argentine Confedera- 
tion 1839 

Treaty of peace recognizing Oribe as Pres- 
ident 1840 

Hostilities renewed by Rivera party (" Col- 
orados") and the Oribe government over- 
thrown 1845 

Oribe asked assistance of Rosas, who be- 
sieged Montevideo nine years. England 
and France joined in the war as allies 



gg LA PLATA COUNTRLES 

of Rivera "to enforce the treaties of 1828 
and 1840." English and French fleets 
withdrawn from the blockade of the La 
Plata 1849 

War between the " Blancos" and " Colorados" 
continued, with Brazil as the ally of Rivera 
and Rosas of Oribe. Oribe killed, January, 1852 

Don Juan Francisco Giro (a " Blanco") inau- 
gurated President . . . March i, 1852 

" Colorado" opposition (known as the first 
Flores insurrection) led by General Ve- 
nancio Flores. " Colorado" massacre in 
Montevideo July 18, 1853 

President Giro fled for protection to a neutral 
man-of-war lying in Montevideo Bay. 
Flores declared the executive chair vacant, 
and made himself President of a ruling 
triumvirate. After the death of his two 
colleagues, Flores became President of the 
Republic 1854 

The Flores government overthrown and Don 
Luis Lanas made Provisional President . 1855 

Flores withdrew to Buenos Ayres. 

Don Gabriel Antonio Pereira made President 
by both parties (" Colorados" and " Blan- 
cos") 1856 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. gp 

Administration of Pereira the most prosperous 
era known since downfall of Spanish rule. 

Invasion from Buenos Ayres by General Ve- 
nancio Flores (known as second Flores 
insurrection) defeated by the energy of 
Carreras, Minister of State .... 1858 

Peace thence till the end of Pereira's term. 
Don Bernardo Prudencio Berro made Pres- 
ident by both parties . . . March i, i860 

During Berro's administration the country 
was unusually prosperous. The aggregate 
capital engaged in business doubled be- 
tween 1858 and 1863. 

Third Flores insurrection .... 1863 

On account of the civil war no election held 
at the close of Berro's term ; hence the 
duties of the Executive devolved on the 
President of the Senate, Don Antanacio 
C. Aguierre March i, 1864 

Brazil presented a claim for indemnity of fifty 
counts, amounting to ^14,000,000, and de-' 
manded instant payment. 

Flores blockaded Montevideo with the help 

of Brazilian and Argentine troops. General 

Gomez, commander of government forces, 

taken prisoner and shot. President Aguierre 
8* 



ga LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

resigned. Senator Villaba assumed the 
Executive and entered into negotiations 
with Flores. General Venancio Flores en- 
tered Montevideo as Provisional Presi- 
dent February, 23, 1865 

Through him Uruguay became a party (M y 
4, 1864) to the "Triple Alliance" against 
Paraguay. 

A revolution against the government of Ve- 
nancio Flores, headed by his sons, caused 
him to resign . . . February 15, 1868 

In a disturbance on February 19, 1868, he was 
assassinated. 

General Lorenzo Battle (" Colorado") made 
President March i, 1868 

Blanco revolution ...... 1870 

Dr. Don Theo Gomensero (" Colorado") made 
President March i, 1872 

Treaty of peace between " Blancos" and " Col- 
orados" April 6, 1872 

Continued civil disturbances. Don Jose Ellauri 
made President 1873 

President Ellauri deposed by his own party 
and succeeded by General Pedro Varela . 1875 

President Varela forced to resign by Colonel 
L. Latorre 1876 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. qI 

Latorre assumed dictatorial powers from 
March ii, 1876, until his election as Presi- 
dent March i, 1877 

Dr. T. A. Vidal elected successor of Colonel 
L. Latorre, and inaugurated March 15, 1880 

President Vidal compelled to resign by Gen- 
eral Maximo Santos, who became Presi- 
dent March i, 1882 



PART II. 



THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC AND 
BOLIVIAN LA PLATA. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ARGENTINE CAPITAL. 

From the capital of Uruguay to the capital of 
the Argentine Republic is sixty miles " as the 
crow flies," but owing to sand-bars that distance 
is doubled by steamer route. The steamers en- 
gaged in the passenger trade between these two 
cities resemble those that ply on the Great Lakes 
of North America, being intended to brave the 
storms " that pile the waves mountain high," as 
well as " to skim the silvery ripples that dance 
in the moonlight." When the water is really calm 
it is a pleasant ride, but a very slight breeze 
causes "a nasty choppy motion" that, to many, 
makes the estuary more disagreeable than the 
ocean. A steamer leaves each city every day at 
four o'clock in the afternoon, arriving before the 
other in about eight hours ; fare, ;^8. As the 
depth of water near the shore of either city is 
insufficient for them to reach the piers, they lie 
from half to three-quarters of a mile from shore 

95 



p6 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

and are reached by bocitas, the same as ocean 
vessels. The bocitas add from ;^i to ;^i.50 to the 
cost of the trip. 

On a bright afternoon in the latter part of July 
I bade a temporary adieu to the clean-washed 
streets of Montevideo and took my seat in a 
nicely-cushioned bocita about the size of an or- 
dinary skiff, and was rowed over the mirror-like 
surface of the bay to the " Jupiter," whose column 
of black smoke betokened its readiness to raise 
anchor. Some two or three hundred passengers 
were already chatting gayly on its deck, and within 
a few minutes the lessening spires of the city 
showed that we were in motion. The promenad- 
ing, the sprightly conversation, and the ripple of 
laughter continued on deck till the early winter 
twilight drove the people into the cabin, where 
they were soon giving as animated attention to 
dinner, which was served from six to eight o'clock, 
and consisted of twelve courses, as follows : 

1st. Vermicelli soup and hard rolls. 

2d. Fried fish served with sliced lemon. 

3d. Partridge fried in sweet oil. 

4th. Artichoke fried in oil. 

5 th. Macaroni and cheese with oil. 

6th. Cold chicken with oil dressingf. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. gy 

7th. Roast beef served with lettuce dipped in oil. 

8th. Patty cake fried in oil. 

9th. Custard. 

lOth. Oranges. 

nth. Cigarettes. 

1 2th. Coffee. 

Wine and water were on the table throughout 
the meal. Few took the latter pure. Wine is 
the universal table drink. As the meal progressed 
the joviality increased. Both ladies and gentlemen 
remained seated at the table during the smoking. 
A k\v ladies accepted the cigarette prepared for 
them by the nearest gentlemen, but smoking in 
public is not a common practice among ladies of 
refinement. Women of the laboring class are fre- 
quently seen on the streets with cigarettes in their 
mouths. 

When I awoke to find the morning sun shin- 
ing, the "Jupiter" was lying at anchor in the inner 
roads at Buenos Ayres, and a bevy of bocitas were 
vying with each other to be the first to reach us. 
Soon a confused chaffering was going on over the 
ship's sides between their several owners and the 
passengers, each, apparently, intent on getting the 
best of the bargain. While waiting my turn I re- 
ceived the congratulations of a fellow-passenger 
■& g 9 



^8 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

on being able to make my first entry into the 
emporium of Argentina in this elegant manner 
rather than by water-cart, as would be necessary 
if the waves were rough. These are huge wheeled 
structures drawn by horses or bullocks, which 
often have to swim with their loads. The service 
is so severe that a horse rarely lasts more than 
four months in it. Formerly, all cargo and pas- 
sengers entered at this port reached terra firma 
by their assistance. Now they are used only 
when the wind beats the bocitas away from the 
piers, and for those parts of the river front where 
the sand-bars leave the water too shallow when 
the tide is out even for small row-boats. 

When at last my turn came to climb the steps 
of the Catalinas mole, and I placed the fare, forty 
Buenos Ayres dollars (equal then to $\.2Q United 
States gold, but when at par to ^i.6o), in his hand, 
the Italian boatman expressed astonishment that I 
could think the services of his boat worth so insig- 
nificant a sum. When satisfied that I knew it to be 
the amount fixed by Buenos Ayres law he no longer 
demurred, but made up in pitiful pleading for ten 
dollars more as a fiapa. 

Seen through a clear atmosphere from the deck 
of a vessel in the river, the city of Buenos Ayres 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. gg 

makes a pleasing picture, its numerous spires rest- 
ing against the sky, and the blue waters stretching 
out for miles in every direction in front of it, dotted 
with numerous sails. But on entering it the con- 
viction is irresistible that its site is greatly infe- 
rior to that of Montevideo, and that Dom Pedro 
Mendoza, who had the privilege of choosing from 
nearly the third of a continent, selected about as 
poor a spot for his city as the whole coast could 
offer him. Natural drainage is wanting, and arti- 
ficial drainage was slow in coming to its assistance, 
so that during the rainy season even paved streets 
are a slush and crossings almost impassable to 
pedestrians. But, notwithstanding the natural dis- 
advantage of its level, added to that of the barri- 
cades of sand that more than 40,000 miles of river- 
courses constantly heap up before it, Buenos Ayres 
has for three centuries defied all attempts at re- 
moval, and (including suburban villages) now boasts 
some 300,000 inhabitants, being not only the largest 
but also the most enterprising, most progressive, and 
most elegant city in the south temperate zone. Its 
general plan and the style of its buildings are the 
same as in Montevideo. The ordinary building 
materials, adobes and marble. There is perhaps 
no city in America where more wealth has been 



100 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

lavished on elegant homes, albeit the outside archi- 
tecture gives little or no hint of the elegance within. 
Its many long streets of commodious business 
houses compare favorably with those of the prin- 
cipal cities of the United States, and are scarce be- 
hind them in the modern accessories to mercantile 
activities. There is also more of that business 
bustle that characterizes North American cities than 
is to be encountered elsewhere in the La Plata. 
Five railroads radiate from it, and nearly a hundred 
miles of street-car tracks make every part of it 
easily available to the masses. The telephone and 
the telegraph are available almost everywhere. 
Upon its invention the electric light speedily became 
popular, and by its aid the terror of stalking shad- 
ows has been banished. Next to the revolutionary 
character of the country the want of a suitable port 
has been the greatest drawback to its prosperity. 
To remedy this evil the work of improving the 
Boca, or mouth of the Rio Chuela, was begun some 
years ago, and has been carried forward with as 
much despatch as could conveniently be thrown into 
it. The Rio Chuela is a small creek that empties 
into the Plata three miles below the original site of 
the city, but is now within its suburbs. In 1880 
small coasting crafts could enter the Boca. Four 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 10 1 

years later a width of 150 feet had been secured, 
with a depth of water sufficient to float vessels of 
2500 tons burden, which can lie at an embankment 
of solid masonry and discharge their cargo on flag- 
stone and Macadam pavement, instead of lying out 
in the estuary from six to twelve mifes, and sub- 
jecting merchandise to as much cost for lighterage 
as for freight from Europe, besides requiring only 
about one-fourth of the time to unload. A suffi- 
cient depth will soon be secured to admit the largest 
vessels. While the United States. was celebrating 
its Centennial, the President of the Argentine Re- 
public declared to its Congress that " The port of 
Buenos Ayres is in the same condition as when en- 
tered by the fleet of Sebastian Cabot." Long ere 
its Centennial its Congress will probably decree a 
jubilee over the completion of one of the finest 
ports accessible to seafaring men. The twin piers 
that reach out to welcome the traveller was the first 
great scheme of improvement engaged in by the 
Government of Buenos Ayres after the overthrow of 
the tyrant Rosas. The opening of the Rio Chuela 
is the crowning maritime event of the twenty-one 
years of the consolidated government, and a worthy 
indication that the Argentine Republic has reached 
its majority. A ship's harbor is also in progress, 



102 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

extending along the city front in a northwesterly- 
direction from the Boca, in which, when completed, 
the largest ships may lie out of the way of moving 
crafts, and, sheltered from storms, unload direct to 
the warehouses lining the shore. Then farewell to 
water-carts!* "Farewell forever!" The advantage 
of such a harbor can be appreciated by any one 
who has witnessed a storm on this river. One oc- 
curred a few days after my arrival, which, seen from 
the Boca, was terrible in its grandeur. The wind 
caught up the water in a column resembling the 
trunk of a great cypress tree, and carried it to the 
height of, probably, 150 feet, where it spread out 
like the drooping branches of an elm, and fell with 
resounding force. The estuary all about it was like 
a boiling caldron, and ships were tossed about like 
bubbles of foam. Several small boats were dashed 
to pieces, and one steamer raised the distress signal, 
but no human power could reach it. 

Witnessing such a scene may well give rise to a 
feeling of thankfulness that one is on solid earth 
rather than in Argentine quarantine. In 1871 
Buenos Ayres lost one-fourth of its population by 
the yellow fever, introduced from Rio de Janeiro. 
As high as nine hundred deaths were reported in a 
single day. Since that time strict quarantine meas- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. IO3 

ures have been enforced, and every one arriving be- 
tween the 1st of December and the 1st of June by a 
vessel that has touched at a Brazilian port north of 
Rio Grande is required to spend two weeks on an 
old hulk anchored several miles from the city. It 
is an experience none could covet, and many who 
would be in risk of its enforcement mitigate the 
" durance vile" by landing at Montevideo and pass- 
ing the quarantine in the building erected for that 
purpose by the Uruguay Government on an island a 
short distance from the coast. When the building 
is occupied a steam-tender makes daily trips to it 
carrying provisions. 

Neatly-kept gardens and grass-plots border the 
river above the warehouses, and numerous little 
parks are scattered through the city. In the princi- 
pal one, Plaza 11 de Setiembi'e (named in commem- 
oration of the Federal victory over General Urquiza 
in 1852), the government dedicated a neat column 
to the memory of San Martin, the hero of South 
American independence, on the occasion of the cen- 
tenary anniversary of his birth in 1877. The event 
caused general rejoicing, and representatives of the 
neighboring republics participated in the ceremony 
of its dedication. It is a grateful tribute to a worthy 
man who devoted his life to a worthy cause, and 



// 



I04 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

who is better appreciated now than he was at the 
time of his death. The honor of canonization has 
also been conferred on him, and a day assigned to 
him in the South American calendar. 

There are also many pleasant drives, and a fine 
boulevard, where the elite enjoy the air in their 
luxurious carriages, or enjoy the more exhilarating 
exercise of a ride on horseback. " Haughty dons 
and ravishing senoritas" are here seen in all their 
glory. An excellent, well-trained saddle-horse can 
be bought for from ;^30 to ;^40, but its stylish equip- 
ments cost from $^(X) to ^500. The mountings of 
the saddle, including the stirrups, are of solid silver. 
The stirrup of a lady's saddle is an elegant silver 
slipper. The nine months of summer and the many 
warm, bright days in the short winter give ample 
opportunity for the indulgence of this popular pas- 
time. Nine well-patronized theatres give a further 
proof of a love for amusement on the part of the 
citizens. 

Of public buildings, the Cathedral, built by the 
Jesuits in the 17th century, is the most notable and 
one of the four finest specimens of church architect- 
ure on the continent. Five hundred Indian slaves 
from the Jesuit missions in Paraguay were employed 
in its construction. As we enter it several Lazaruses 



I 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. IO5 

are basking in the bright sunshine on the steps, and 
others are crouching in the magnificent vestibule 
waiting an alms, while within a mass for the dead 
is being celebrated in the dim obscurity of wax 
tapers. 

The University, founded in 1820, and supported 
by the National Government, is the exponent of the 
more modern idea of human development. It has 
a faculty of forty-two professors, several of whom 
are foreigners, mostly Germans. Its classical curri- 
culum is much the same as that of Harvard. It 
has also the four departments of law, medicine, 
science, and engineering, a diploma from either one 
of which is an almost certain preferment to wealth 
and position. It has a library of over sixty thou- 
sand volumes, many of them exponents of the re- 
searches of European scientists, and an interesting 
museum. 

Although among the most important, the Govern- 
ment House is one of the least attractive buildings. 
It is two stories high, of common adobes stuccoed 
and color-washed a pale pink. In it the National 
Government was the guest of the Province of 
Buenos Ayres for seventeen years, pending the de- 
cision of where the Federal capital should be per- 
manently located. This question, so important to 



I06 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

the peace and stability of the nation, was settled 
most satisfactorily in 1880 by the Province of 
Buenos Ayres presenting the city, with ample 
suburbs, to the nation as a Federal district. The 
Provincial Government then remained the guest of 
the National Government until 1882, when the site 
was chosen for the new Provincial capital. 

The Federal Congress meets every year, and re- 
mains in session from the 1st of May till the 1st 
of September. The Senate is composed of twenty- 
eight members, two from each province, who are 
elected for a term of six years. At present the 
Lower House (House of Deputies) has eighty-six 
members, who are elected for four years, one half 
being elected every two years. Both senators and 
deputies receive an annual salary of ^3500. Like 
the senators, the President and Vice-President are 
elected for six years, and the President is not 
eligible to re-election. The Vice-President is chair- 
man of the Senate. Although characterized by 
refined and grave dignity, many of the legislators 
are comparatively young men, fully imbued with 
the idea of Argentina's present and prospective 
greatness and her future importance among na- 
tions, and manifest the determination to place her 
in the foremost rank of republican governments, 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



107 



side by side with the United States. The first Con- 
gress that met after the removal of the Provincial 
capital took up the question of city improvements 
in a manner that showed the intention of making 
the Federal capital the worthy type of a great 
nation. Very properly it began by adopting a 
proposition for a thorough system of drainage, and 
appropriated ^8,000,000 to carry it into execution. 
When this has been accomplished the condition of 
the city will cease to be a parody on its name, — good 
air. 

Even though a six o'clock dinner has consisted 
of twelve courses, one is apt to feel the cravings 
of appetite before a city of 300,000 inhabitants 
has been gone over. Obeying the instinct of self- 
preservation, he may enter a hotel with an assur- 
ance gained by experience that breakfast may be 
had any time after nine o'clock. This is the 
early breakfast hour. From one to two o'clock is 
a rather late one. Eleven is everywhere the most 
usual breakfast time. The city is well supplied 
with hotels, — French, Italian, English, Creole, — at 
which the charges are no more exorbitant than 
at those of the same comparative standing in the 
United States. Some are on the " European plan," 
others on the " American." Reasonably good ac- 



I08 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

commodations can be had in private boarding- 
houses for from $2^ to ;^30 per month. As eggs 
sometimes cost one dollar per dozen and fowls are 
rarely less than seventy-five cents apiece, little ob- 
jection can be made to these prices, — provided 
always, that the fowls and eggs be not too per- 
sistently replaced by beef and mutton, which are 
the cheapest articles of food attainable. 

If the outer door be open, the visitor at either 
a hotel or private residence enters the patio and 
announces his presence by a vigorous clapping of 
the hands. If the street door be shut, the same 
signal will call an attendant from within. 

It is not usual for ladies unaccompanied by 
gentlemen to eat at the public hotel table. Their 
meals are served in their own rooms. But in 
those hotels where North Americans and English 
are frequent guests this rule is not strictly ad- 
hered to. 

My first hotel breakfast in Buenos Ayres 
(brought on by the waiter without previous speci- 
fication on my part) consisted of six courses, as 
follows : 

1st. Beef broth with shreds of cabbage and 
crumbs of bread. (This is called caldo) 

2d. Fried fish. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. IO9 

3d. Blood sausage (which the waiter assured 
me I could eat with confidence, as it was made 
in the house, but which I had not the confidence 
to touch). 

4th. Mutton-chops and fried potatoes. 

5th. Sweet omelet. 

6th. Tea. 

A long loaf of bread lay on the table, but after 
seeing many like it in hands not the cleanest, 
and coming in contact with pantaloon legs not 
fresh from the laundry, I did not feel particularly 
drawn towards the " staff of life." Such fastidi- 
ousness soon wears away and the superiority of 
Buenos Ayrean bakers is frankly admitted. Eng- 
lish, French, and Creole bread may be had as 
preferred, the two first in loaves, the last in rolls. 
The gallita is a native roll that is baked very 
hard, keeps well, and makes long journeys in 
bakers' carts to supply the country people. Bread 
is not baked in private houses either in the city 
or country. There are no conveniences for so 
doing. Bread making is a business that belongs 
exclusively to the professional baker. 

Soup or caldo is an essential part of every 
meal. The same meat that serves for the caldo 
for breakfast, with longer cooking gives a rich 



no LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

soup for dinner. Supper is not a customary 
meal. 

The blood sausage referred to in my breakfast 
bill of fare is a favorite national dish, and is made 
from the blood of the ox or sheep, mixed 
with chopped garlic or onions, and occasionally 
with other ingredients. I was repeatedly assured 
that one who does not eat it need not expect to 
retain strength in that climate. The climate, how- 
ever, is not more trying than that of Cincinnati. 
The mean average temperature in the city from 
March to September, i88o, was 72° Fahrenheit. 
The highest temperature was 98°, and the lowest 

3c/. 

I was amused with a Scotchman's relation of 
his first experience in satisfying the cravings of 
appetite in Buenos Ayres. Knowing little of the 
Spanish language and nothing of the customs of 
the country, he read over a door the sign ''pan con 
leclie' (bread with milk), and concluded he would 
indulge himself with a bowl of bread and milk. 
He stepped in and as best he could laid his wants 
before the proprietor. A dry roll was handed 
to him. After exercising his patience for a time, 
he modestly suggested that he was waiting for 
the milk. " It is in the bread," said the shop- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. HI 

keeper, and added, " If the gentleman would like 
Icche he can get it at the tambo!' 

The tambo is a place where cows, goats, or 
mares are kept for their milk. A travelling tambo 
is the milk animal led through the street by a 
halter, to be milked at the doors of regular cus- 
tomers, or anywhere that a chance customer pre- 
sents himself. The milk is drawn into the cup or 
glass presented, and it is not unusual for the pur- 
chaser to drink it on the spot. The ianibo then 
travels on until another cupful is wanted. A 
drink of warm milk may be had in this way for 
eight cents. Mares are never worked, and are 
kept in the cities only for their milk. Occasion- 
ally a herd of a dozen or more may be seen 
making the rounds of their customers. The milk 
is considered more nourishing than that of the 
cow. With all this display of the milk animal, 
comparatively little use is made by the natives of 
either milk or its products. 

My arrival in the Argentine capital was just three 
weeks after the siege of the city was raised at the 
end of the revolution of 1880, and my first act, 
after receiving the permissive nod of the customs 
officer, was to take a carriage (for which I paid 
^2.80 per hour) and instruct the driver to go to 



112 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

the scene of the recent fighting, where I found men 
at work replacing the cobble-stone pavements that 
had been torn up to make barricades, and filling 
the trenches that had been dug across the streets. 
In the adjoining public square troops with bronzed 
faces, clad in knickerbockers of blue, black, red, 
and gray, were going through a military drill in a 
running fox-trot. The whole scene was more sug- 
gestive of Sepoy comparisons than of beating swords 
into pruning-hooks. 

This is universally referred to as one of the 
fiercest, sharpest, most decisive, and briefest of all 
the La Plata revolutions, having been conceived, 
begun, and ended within three months. Every 
one had his own particular tale of horrors to 
relate. It was a modern attempt to continue the 
Gaucho mode of carrying an election. Its signal 
failure is readily interpreted as an indication that 
" the past can never return," 

In March, 1880, General Julio Roca was elected 
President of the Argentine Republic for the con- 
stitutional term of six years. The defeated candi- 
date, unwilling to accept his defeat, set out for the 
capital city, driving before him a large troop of 
horses, which he expected to be manned by the 
population of the rural districts flocking to his 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. Uj 

standard as he pressed onward, arming themselves 
with spears made by breaking sheep shears in two 
and lashing each point to the end of a pole. These 
simple arms had proved formidable weapons in 
many a civil contest, and by them a strange alliance 
was effected between the most peaceful of all avoca- 
tions and the savagery of continuous war. But in 
this instance the expectation of the chief was des- 
tined to non-fulfilment. Enough men did not join 
his standard to conquer the seat of government. 
Instead, the Provinces sent troops to the assistance 
of the capital, and the besiegers were in turn be- 
sieged. The drove of horses added to their embar- 
rassment. The starving people were reduced to the 
necessity of eating the starving animals, and piles 
of bones from which the flesh had been eaten lay 
in the streets. Hundreds of carcasses of horses 
that had died of starvation strewed the commons 
outside of the city, making the air pestilential. At 
the outbreak of the difficulty all who could do so 
escaped to Montevideo before the port was closed. 
Foreign diplomatic corps found they had no sine- 
cure office, and the homes of foreign clergymen 
were places of refuge. In this national crisis the 
plenipotentiary from the United States was the 

only representative of a foreign power admitted to 
h lo* 



114 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



an interview with the " Department," and is said to 
have acquitted himself with honor. 

For several weeks afterwards bands of soldiers 
were moving about in the several Provinces, and 
when the " whys and wherefores" were asked, there 
was the universal shrug and the universal Spanish 
ejaculation, "Qjcien sabef (who knows). Eventually 
all signs of disturbance passed away, and on the 
1 2th of October General Roca was peacefully sworn 
into office. Since that time the quiet of the city 
has remained unbroken, and but {q^m indications of 
a turbulent disposition have been manifested in 
other parts of the Republic. The federalization of 
the city has taken away the root of jealousy between ■ 
it and other provincial capitals, and an era of peace- 
ful prosperity seems at last to be insured. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 115 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 

The most natural feeling of the average Amer- 
ican in visiting the Argentine Republic is aston- 
ishment. Astonishment at its extent, its resources, 
its ambition, its spirit of progress, and the culture 
that greets him in contrast with his preconceived 
ideas; and perhaps for the first time he begins to 
realize that he does not know everything. Yet 
the scarcity of available means of information is 
greater cause for surprise than his ignorance. 
During the early days of South American inde- 
pendence, there was a general enthusiasm with 
regard to its future, and the United States was 
the first nation to recognize the new republic and 
send a Minister Plenipotentiary to its capital. 
From that time until the beginning of its own 
civil war as close communication was maintained 
as was possible with only the aid of slow mails 
and sailing ships, and with its unquiet political 



Il6 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

condition. Since that time American thought has 
been so absorbed in problems of home develop- 
ment that, while the children have been repeating 
the same geography lessons their fathers conned, 
— " The country consists of vast plains called 
pampas, on which roam thousands of sheep and 
cattle, which furnish the chief exports, wool, hides, 
and tallow," — the little sister has, unheeded, stepped 
boldly forward to its side. 

With the reconstruction or consolidation effected 
in 1862, a new era dawned on the Argentine Re- 
public, and with that event the history of the 
present Argentine nation begins. As now consti- 
tuted it comprises fourteen provinces of what was 
the Spanish Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, and a 
large extent of public lands. The provinces are: 
Buenos Ayres, Catamarca, Cordoba, Corrientes, 
Entre Rios, Jujui, Mendoza, San Juan, San Luis, 
Santa Fe, Salta, Santiago del Estero, Rioja, and 
Tucuman. Owing to the vague manner in which 
territorial limits were stated in original royal grants, 
provincial boundaries offered a fruitful subject for 
disputes. To avert these the plan of donating to the 
General Government all disputed areas was happily 
proposed. Each Province has its own govern- 
ment, modelled after those of the States of the 



I 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



17 



United States. In all, the governors and legis- 
lators are elected for the same length of time, viz., 
three years, and receive the same amount of 
salary. 

The Territories are : Misiones, Formoso, Gran 
Chaco, Pampas, Rio Negro, Neuguen, Chubut, 
Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego. 

The boundary between the Argentine Republic 
and Paraguay was long a vexed question, and was 
finally settled by the arbitration of the United 
States in favor of the claims of Paraguay. The 
treaty of limits was signed on the 3d of Feb- 
ruary, 1876, making the Pilcomayo River the 
boundary instead of the Paraguay. 

In October of 188 1 the boundary with Chili 
was definitely fixed by treaty in conformity with 
protocols issued in 1878, Both nations unhesitat- 
ingly accepted the decision of the committee ap- 
pointed to adjust the matter, and in most explicit 
terms acknowledged their gratitude for the assist- 
ance rendered in these delicate negotiations by 
the plenipotentiaries of the United States. By 
the terms of the treaty the highest peaks, or 
water-shed, of the Andes is the western boundary 
of the Argentine Republic from 22° to 52° south 
latitude. The parallel of 52° then becomes the 



Il8 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

boundary from the water-shed of the Andes to its 
intersection with the meridian of 70° west from 
Greenwich. The line then follows the highest 
peaks of a low mountain range in a general 
southeasterly direction to Mount Dinero, and 
thence to Point Dungeness on the Straits of Ma- 
gellan. The island of Tierra del Fuego is divided 
between the two nations by a line due north 
from Cape Espiritu Santo, in latitude 52^ 50' and 
longitude 68° 34' west from Greenwich, to Bea- 
gle Channel. 

Los Estados islands and the small islands close 
to the eastern division of Tierra del Fuego be- 
long to the Argentine Republic. Those south of 
the western division of Tierra del Fuego and all 
islands to the westward belong to Chili. The 
Straits of Magellan are neutral, and neither nation 
has the right to erect fortifications on them. 

By this decision to the Argentine Republic is 
left the undisputed sovereignty of the entire west- 
ern side of the La Plata basin lying south of the 
parallel of 22°, and contained between the highest 
crests of the Andes and the great auxiliary rivers 
of the La Plata system, being an area of 1,168,682 
square miles. Topographically this area is in five 
natural divisions: ist. The Cordilleras of the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. Up 

Andes, being high table-lands between dy^ 30' 
and 69° 30' west longitude, with shallow valleys 
running north and south. The mean height of this 
table-land is 13,000 feet above sea level. 2d. Iso- 
lated mountain ranges in the northern part of the 
Republic, with wide wastes of comparatively un- 
productive land known as " deserts." Some of 
these are covered with saline inflorescence. Tlie 
mountains are rugged and more abrupt on the 
western than on the eastern side. 3d. The cen- 
tral Argentine table-lands and Sierras of Cordoba. 
4th. Prairies, called pampas, and wooded plains. 
5th. The undulating table-lands of Patagonin. 
The salubrity of the country, as a whole, was fully 
attested by the longevity of the people, as shown 
by the census of 1869, the first general census at- 
tempted. It was then found that there was a cen- 
tenarian for every 7350 inhabitants, and 26 per- 
sons were found whose age exceeded 120 years. 

Thoughout the Republic the same general dis- 
tinction of the inhabitants as gente deccnte and peons 
exists as in Uruguay, and to these is added the 
Gaiicho of the pampas. A foreigner is kindly re- 
ceived and treated with marked respect by all 
classes. The suavity that prompts him "to put 
everything at the disposition" of his guest seems 



120 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

inherent in the Argentine, regardless of social posi- 
tion, and is a characteristic in strong contrast with 
the policy that for three centuries kept the La Plata 
locked from the rest of the world. But, notwith- 
standing the great change that has been wrought 
within a generation, nothing in their mode of 
thought will more readily impress the stranger, 
especially the North American, who mingles freely 
among the people, either in business relations or 
social intercourse, than the boundlessness of time 
and the amplitude of to-morrow. Mariana (to- 
morrow) and pasa-nianana (day after to-morrow) are 
the first words learned. It is the period of time in 
which all things are accomplished, and for the 
Yankee's exasperating now they have the euphoni- 
ous substitute paciencia (patience). He who is 
thoroughly imbued with the spirit of these three 
words may find a residence among them delightful. 
Otherwise it may prove as much a discipline as a 
joy. The suggestion made in 1856 by Lieutenant 
Page of the United States exploring expedition on 
La Plata River and its tributaries is still appropriate : 
" Whoever undertakes any enterprise in South 
America must do so with a patient, philosophic 
spirit." 

In no one particular has a greater change been 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. I2v\ 

effected since the consolidation of the government, 
or one that has a more direct tendency towards the 
unitization of the people, or more felicitous to the 
traveller, than in the facilities for intercommunica- 
tion and communication with other countries. The 
telegraph has taken the place of the individual 
courier, and more than 10,000 miles of wires now 
bind together all the cities and principal villages, 
and even reach remote outposts. Seven-eighths 
of these lines are owned and operated by the Fed- 
eral Government, the remainder by private com- 
panies. The uniform price for a message of ten 
words, sent to any part of the Republic regardless 
of distance, is forty cents. More than half a mil- 
lion messages are transmitted annually. 

Since 1872 a snow cable across the Andes, 
through the Uspallata Pass, has connected the city 
of Mendoza, and thence Buenos Ayres, with Val- 
paraiso, Chili, whence submarine cable gives com- 
munication with the United States by way of San 
Francisco and Galveston. The subfluvial telegraph 
that connects Buenos Ayres and Montevideo brings 
it into telegraphic communication with Rio Grande 
and Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, and thence, by way of 
the Cape Verde Islands and Europe, with the east 
coast of the United States. 



.122 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

Even more advantageous, if possible, than the 
introduction of the telegraph was the adoption of 
a general postal service. To facilitate the regular 
transmission of the mails Congress annually appro- 
priates about ^2,000,000 as subsidies to stage-coach 
lines. Every province has one or more of these, 
and some of them have several. In 1883 that of 
Buenos Ayres had fifty-one, and employed on them 
10,988 horses and 935 men. Local letter postage 
(including Uruguay and Paraguay) is at the rate 
of eight cents per half-ounce, while business pa- 
pers are carried for one cent per ounce. In 1883 
the Argentine home correspondence amounted to 
17,300,000 letters, while its foreign correspondence 
increased the number to 21,000,000. The proceeds 
of the service for the year gave the government a 
net gain of ;^2 1,046. 

The Argentine Republic was admitted to the 
Berne Postal League in 1878. Previous to that 
date letter postage to the United States was at 
the rate of twenty-seven cents per quarter-ounce. 
Since that time five cents will take a letter there 
from the United States, but will not bring a return. 
From 1878 to 1882 the letter rate from the Argen- 
tine Republic to the United States was sixteen cents 
per quarter-ounce. In the latter year it was reduced 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. jo'? 

to twelve cents. Postage on newspapers coming in 
or going out of the country is charged at the rate 
of two cents for every fifty grains in weight. If 
foreign letters have been underpaid, when they 
reach the Buenos Ayres post-office the amount of 
deficit is marked according to the Argentine rate, 
not according to that of the country from which 
they come. For example, if a letter with a United 
States five-cent stamp weighs a fraction over the 
fourth of an ounce, the proper postage since Jan- 
uary I, 1882, is twenty-four cents. As only five 
have been paid, the remaining nineteen cents are 
collected from the recipient. My " personal experi- 
ence" afforded me indubitable proof that the Ar- 
gentine quarter-ounce is lighter than the half-ounce 
of the United States. 



124 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



CHAPTER X. 

THE PROVINCE OF BUENOS AYRES. 

The Province of Buenos Ayres is about equal 
in extent to the State of New York, and bears 
much the same relative importance in the Argen- 
tine Republic that the State of New York does 
in the United States, With the exception of a 
few isolated mountain knobs in the southern part, 
that seem to be an outlying fragment of the Coast 
Range Mountains of Brazil and Uruguay, it is 
wholly a prairie State, lying in the topographical 
division known 'as the pampas. 

It was in this Province that the Gaucho, the 
third distinct class of the Argentine population, 
thrust himself upon the notice of the world. 
Strangely enough, the greater number of names 
that have been impressed on the thought of for- 
eign nations are the names of Gauchos. The 
idea of La Plata civilization entertained generally 
in the United States is the idea of Gaucho civil- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



125 



ization, — if such a combination of words be ad- 
missible. The Gaucho, or lord of the prairies of 
the La Plata, is of mixed Spanish and Indian 
blood. He may still be seen to better advantage 
on the prairies of Buenos Ayres than in any other 
Province of the Republic, although it is possible 
that in those lying to the northward he has been 
less modified by foreign influences. The name 
(usually translated into North American literature 
as " cattle driver") literally means a horscinan. 
Hence it is evident that there may be gentlemen 
Gauchos and peon Gauchos without any violence 
to the language. A gentleman, of whatever class, 
is always addressed as Sefior or Caballero, but a 
peon as amigo (friend). 

The full Gaucho dress is now rarely seen near 
the cities. It is what Sarmiento has characterized 
as the " American dress," because found in no 
other part of the world. It is peculiarly adapted 
to the needs for which it was intended, — a life on 
horseback, — and admits the free action of every 
part of the body. 

The Gaucho boot is the skin drawn from the 
leg of the horse or ox and made supple by ma- 
nipulation. The heel of the wearer fits into the 
part that grew around the hock of his predecessor, 



126 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

and from the part to which the hoof adhered his toes 
protrude guiltless of stockings. This boot is now 
rarely seen even in the interior, being superseded by 
those of French manufacture. Wide white cotton 
trousers reach a little below the knee and are elab- 
orately trimmed around the bottom with fringe, 
embroidery, or native hand-made lace. His loose 
cotton shirt resembles a blouse. The collar is 
generally left open and thrown back from the 
chest. The cliirapa is worn over the trousers. It 
is a long shawl, one end of which is fastened 
under the belt in front and the other end at the 
back, giving the effect, when walking, of Turkish 
trousers open on the side. In riding it protects 
the white ones underneath. The belt is of leather, 
the finest being of dressed hog-skin elaborately 
embroidered. The leather is doubled, forming 
pockets from six to nine inches deep, which are 
separated by rows of buttons. These buttons are 
silver dollars or half dollars made with an eye on 
the reverse side. The lappet of each pocket is 
fastened down with a similar button. The lower 
edge of the belt is sometimes festooned with silvei 
chains, from the links of which silver coins are^ 
suspended, and the whole is fastened in front by 
an elaborate clasp surrounded by a coarse filigree. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 12/ 

The curved knife, inherited from his Moorish an- 
cestors, is worn in the back of the belt. It serves 
for all purposes alike, — to mend a cart, build a 
house, kill an ox, cut his food, or " mark" his 
antagonist. (Sheffield, England, has a large trade 
with the Argentine Republic in these knives.) In- 
stead of a coat, a poncho of the same quality and 
color as the chirapd is used. When not needed 
for warmth or protection from the rain it is car- 
ried on the recado (saddle). A soft slouch hat, a 
bright-colored handkerchief loosely knotted about 
the neck, and a silver-mounted riding-whip of 
braided raw-hide complete the costume of the 
gentlemmi Gaucho. The peon Gaucho may dis- 
pense with all save the shirt, chirapd^ and hat, a 
strip of raw-hide supplying the place of the belt 
as a support for the chirapd and a rest for the 
knife, and a strap buckled to the wrist serving 
for a whip. 

Like the Arab, the Gaucho spends the greater 
part of his waking existence on his horse. The 
name of his saddle literally means a resting-place 
or bed. It is composed of four small rolls of 
straw sewed in leather, two of which, bound together, 
rest on each side of the horse. Over this are laid 
one or more skeepskins, tanned with the wool on; 



128 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

one or more rugs, woven in the upper provinces, 
with pile perhaps an inch long; and, over all, the 
poncho. The stirrup, secured to the recado, in the 
case of the gentleman Gaucho, is often a mass of 
silver ornament that quite conceals the foot. The 
headstall of the bridle is as nearly entirely of silver 
as is consistent with use, the ornaments of the 
brow-band, or chapeado, covering a goodly portion 
of the face. Silver bits are in the horse's mouth, 
and a prctel of several rows of silver bangles orna- 
ments its breast. The reins are alternate sections 
of silver chains and leather. The peon's bridle is a 
simple headstall and reins of raw-hide, with a stout 
iron bit. But even that is scarcely needed, the 
horse seeming instinctively to understand the rider's 
wish. The coiled lasso is attached to the recado 
ready for use, and the bolas always accompanies it. 
The bolas is a mechanical implement and an offen- 
sive weapon inherited from the aborigines. It con- 
sists of three stone (or sand) balls enveloped in 
leather; two being of equal size, and attached to 
thongs of equal length. The third ball is smaller, 
and attached to a shorter strap. The ends of the 
three straps are fastened together. To use it the 
horseman, holding the small ball in his hand, raises 
his arm above his head with a whirling motion till 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



129 



the two free balls have gained the requisite momen- 
tum, then opens his hand, and the weapon speeds 
away and coils itself about the feet of the ox or 
horse that he would capture, or with it he will 
bring down a bird upon the wing. (By the use of 
the bolas the cavalry of the Spaniards was rendered 
useless in the war with the Incas, and burning 
faggots attached to them set fire to the thatch roofs 
and destroyed the city of Cuzco in 1536, when held 
by Hernando Pizarro and besieged by the natives 
under the Inca sovereign Manco, son of Huayna 
Capac.) Although, in the practised hands of the 
native, the bolas is an almost unerring and conve- 
nient means of catching an animal, it is a severe 
one. I have seen horses, caught with it while 
feeding on the prairie, led up with legs lacerated and 
bleeding. 

The home of the Gaucho is a mud hut thatched 
with pampa grass, the rocking-chairs of which are 
the skull bones of oxen, with the wide-spreading 
horns as arms, and gourds serve for cooking uten- 
sils. The wants of his family are extremely simple, 
and but for the modern invasion of artificial cravings 
would be wholly supplied without the intervention 
of commerce. 

The Gaucho lives almost exclusively onjDeef and 



120 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

mutton, which he cuts in long strips and roasts 
before a fire. In eating he holds one end in his 
hand, takes the other in his mouth, then severs the 
bite with his belt-knife. Wherever he may be, the 
abundant herds and flocks, and his ready knife, in- 
sure him a meal, and if night overtakes him away 
from home he lays his saddle on the ground, wraps 
himself in his poncho, and lies down on it to sleep. 
His is a wild, free, unconventional life, not without 
its charms, but it is doomed to vanish before the 
innovation of the restraints which those using them 
call civilization. 

There is a larger foreign population resident in 
Buenos Ayr^s than in any other Argentine province. 
The brief period of tranquillity that here followed 
the acknowledgment of the independence of Span- 
ish America, and that terminated in the short and 
brilliant administration of Rividavia, was especially 
favorable to the interests of this Province. Two of 
the first acts of self-government were the opening 
the port of Buenos Ayres and inviting immigration. 
With few exceptions, immigration to the La Plata 
then meant immigration to Buenos Ayres, and those 
who got beyond the city had no incentive to go 
beyond the Province, The ever restless, ever ready 
Irish wete prompt to accept the invitation, and soon 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. I^i 

thirty thousand of them were scattered over these 
fertile plains engaged in sheep farming. To them, 
more than any other class, the Province owes the 
development of this industry. During the troublous 
times that followed the overthrow of the Rividavia 
government they pursued their avocation compara- 
tively undisturbed. Since peace has again been 
restored, immigrants of other nationalities have also 
found their road to wealth in this enterprise. 

The Argentine prairies are peculiarly adapted to 
grazing, and are designated by Argentine economists 
as " the meat-producing" division of the Republic. 
They are of two general classes, called hard camps 
and soft camps. (The word camp is the English ren- 
dering of the Spanish word campo, the synonyme 
of prairie, both words signifying treeless pastures.) 
By soft camps are meant the prairies upon which 
soft grasses and succulent pasture plants, such as 
spreading wheat-grass and trefoils, are in the as- 
cendancy. The hard ccurips are those covered with 
wiry varieties of grass, and are better for cattle than 
for sheep. A square league of good soft camp will 
support a flock of twenty thousand sheep. When 
stocked with half that number it is expected to 
support the flock with its increase for two years. A 
flock of sheep doubles itself in three years. There 



122 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

are two lambing seasons, spring and fall. Fall lambs 
are more hardy, as they have time to gain strength 
before the heat of summer becomes oppressive. 
Sheep-shearing begins from the middle of October 
to the middle of November. Men and women from 
the country villages are hired as shearers. Two 
men are usually sufficient to take care of the flocks 
of sheep on a square league of land, except at 
shearing-time. This care consists in corraling them 
at night, changing their feeding-grounds as required, 
and providing drinking water where there are no 
running streams. There is always a demand for 
men who understand the business, and it is not 
unusual for an impecunious immigrant " to get a 
start" by hiring himself out on the shares as a 
sheep farmer. By such an arrangement the laborer 
is boarded and receives one-third or one-fourth (as 
the case may be) of the increase of lambs and of 
the wool at shearing-time. In this way in a few 
years he finds himself with a flock of his own 
and means at his command to rent or buy a camp 
for their subsistence. 

After a hard camp has been grazed by cattle a 
few years soft grasses often replace the original 
growth, and sheep may then be advantageously 
introduced. The intelligent grazier will, of course, 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. ^XX 

study his own cavipo, and introduce or vary his 
flocks and herds accordingly. 

When cattle have become accustomed to their 
feeding-grounds, two men take care of the herds on 
a league of land as easily as of sheep. A herd 
doubles itself in four years. Two thousand cattle 
are estimated to the square league. In the Province 
of Buenos Ayres a square league of land costs from 
twenty thousand to fifty thousand dollars, according 
to its distance from the city, and in very remote 
districts may be bought even cheaper. 

The following estimates of the costs and profits 
of an cstancia are from an official compilation,* and 
will serve as a general illustration. It differs only 
in minor details from statements made to me by 
individual estanccros of their personal knowledge 
and experience : 

Suppose the cost of the land to be . . ;^40,ooo 
And that ....... 20,000 

Is expended as follows : 

10,000 sheep, al corte, at ^ 1. 10 , . . 1 12,000 

1,000 cattle, " " 6 ... 6,000 

300 mares, " " 4 ... 1,200 

50 saddle horses "16 . . . 800 



^20,000 



* Report of Argentine Commission, prepared for Centennial 
Exposition at Philadelphia, 1876. 



134 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



i,ooo " " al corte 


" 1.20 . 


150 cattle " to butchers 


" 14 


100 " " al corte 


" 6 


25 mares " " 


" 4 


400 quintals of wool 


" 12 


3 " hair 


" 20 


Total 





1,200 

2,100 

600 

100 

4,800 

60 

$13,860 



EXPENSES TO BE DEDUCTED. 

Salary of manager per annum . . $240 

Salaiy of two servants per annum . 280 

Salary of six shepherds per annum . 1,020 

Sundry expenses .... 320 



Total 
Net gain 



1,860 



$12,000 



In this estimate it is presumed that the flesh of 
animals slaughtered on the place will provide the 
food of the employes, and that the skins of the 
sheep and hides of the cattle so slaughtered, with 
the tallow and bones sold, will meet other incidental 
expenses not enumerated. By the estimate, it will 
be seen an annual net gain of sixty per cent, of the 
money expended in stock is allowed, or an annual 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

net gain of twenty per cent, on capital invested in 
lands and stock. No allowance is made for years 
of drought, and pestilence among the herds, which 
a prudent forethought will be likely to take into 
consideration in making investments. Neither is it 
certain that the individual cstancero will be able to 
sell his flocks, al corte (old and young, large and 
small, in the flocks as they run), at ten cents per 
head more than he pays for them. 

Many city capitalists have estancias, or grazing 
farms, that they either rent or place under the care 
of a mayor domo. Occasionally one of these has 
a fine residence on it in which the family spend a 
portion of the summer. The buildings of the cs~ 
tancia are of the most primitive kind. The best are 
of adobes, rarely of more than two or three rooms ; 
the poorer ones are mud huts. When one of the 
genti^ecente lives permanently on his estancia, his 
own residence is made to conform as nearly to those 
of the towns as possible. The employes occupy 
their several homes on different parts of the grounds. 

Sheep bought by the tallow triers are skinned 
and the whole carcass thrown into boilers. When 
the tallow has been tried out, the flesh taken from 
the boilers is used to replenish the fires. Before 
the foreign demand for grease made economy an 



Ijj LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

object, the whole carcass was thrown into the fire 
as soon as the skin was withdrawn, and while it was 
still quivering with life. This disposition of it as 
fuel may still sometimes be seen. It requires about 
three minutes to kill and skin a sheep and dispose 
of the carcass. Between the returns of the year 
following the expulsion of Rosas and the union of 
the Province of Buenos Ayres with the Argentine 
Confederation, — that is, in the eight years from 1854 
to 1862, — the export of wool increased two hundred 
and thirty-seven and four-fifths per cent. From 
1876 to 1882, inclusive, it increased twenty-five per 
cent. In the latter year the total export of wool 
was 244,732,196 pounds, valued at ^29,033,000. 

The unv/ashed wool is sorted in storehouses 
called barracas, and pressed into bales of from 
seven to nine quintals. (The quintal is 112 pounds.) 
The sheepskins are also baled. Bales of skins 
weigh from eight to eleven quintals. France is 
Argentina's best market for sheepskins. By the 
provincial returns of 1881, Buenos Ayres had 57,- 
838,073 sheep, and by the national estimates there 
were 93,000,000 sheep in the Argentine Republic 
at the beginning of the year 1883. This is eleven 
million more than twice as many as there were then 
in the United States. Australia, with its 72,000,000 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 1 37 

sheep, ranks next after the Argentine Republic as 
the world's supplier of v/ool. 

Fat cattle are generally taken to market by agents 
called abcdoirs. Except for the supply of city 
markets or exportation on foot to the neighboring re- 
publics, they are disposed of to tallow triers or at the 
salederos, where their flesh is skinned off in layers 
about an inch and a half in thickness, then cut 
into strips, and after lying piled in salt a few days 
is dried in the air, and in this state is known to 
commerce as came seca (dried meat), which was 
long one of the most important of Argentina's 
minor articles of export. However, a heavy duty 
laid on it by some of those nations which were 
the best customers have almost discouraged its 
production, and within the past few years some of 
the largest salederos in Buenos Ayres have been 
closed. Only about five minutes are required to 
slaughter and skin an ox, cut its flesh into strips, 
salt, and pile it up. 

When cattle are sold to the tallow triers, their 
carcasses are treated the same as those of sheep, 
and the tallow is run from the boilers into barrels 
for shipment. The hides are stretched on scaffolds 
and dried in the sun, then passed through a poi- 
sonous solution to preserve them from the ravages 



138 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

of bugs and worms. They are exported without 
being baled, and handled separately at each re- 
shipment. Those handling them keep tally in a 
monotonous sing-song in counts of ten, as they 
pass the hides along. The large bones are ground 
into bone flour for European agriculturists. 

To Don Jorge de Mendoza, who, under royal 
commission from the king of Spain, fitted out the 
first expedition for the colonization of Buenos Ayres, 
is due the credit of the introduction of domestic 
animals on the Argentine pampas. It is difficult 
to conceive the solitude of these vast plains, when 
enlivened by neither ox, sheep, nor horse. As a part 
of the equipment of his colony, Mendoza brought 
with him sixteen cows, two bulls, thirty-two horses 
and mares, twenty goats, forty-six sheep, and eigh- 
teen dogs. A part of these were sent into the 
interior and became the progenitors of great herds 
of wild animals, that afterwards were an easy source 
of wealth, and, in the development of the Gaucho 
element, a curse to the country. In 1 881, in addi- 
tion to its nearly sixty million sheep, Buenos Ayres 
had 4,754,810 cattle, 2,396,469 horses, 155,134 hogs, 
and 7612 goats. The number of dogs does not 
appear. In 1880 the entire indebtedness of the 
Argentine Republic was estimated at ten dollars per 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 1 39 

capita of its population, and the value of the cattle 
in the Republic at twenty dollars per capita. 

Soon after the close of the civil war in the United 
States, while the people were groaning under the 
consequent load of taxation, a distinguished states- 
man made the declaration that " The women of the 
Western Reserve could cJuirJi ont the entire national 
debt in ten years!' How long would it require for 
the Argentine plains to graze out any sum required 
for national benefit ? 

An estancia covers an area of from eighteen to 
sixty square miles. 

Until within the past twenty years the opinion was 
held, even by scientists who had analyzed the soil, 
that the pampas were totally unfit for anything but 
grazing. During his term as President of the Re- 
public, the patriot statesman, Sarmiento, combated 
this opinion with a practical experiment. Through 
his efforts a section of pampa in the very heart of 
the province of Buenos Ayres was laid out in small 
fields for cultivation, and with considerable expense 
a country town was established in its midst for 
the accommodation of an agricultural community. 
Forest trees were planted and wheat culture intro- 
duced, with that variety of other crops that can 
alone insure agricultural success. The result of the 



1^0 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

experiment was just what its projector anticipated. 
Now the Province has more than a hundred thriving 
villages, more or less, of the same type, some of 
which might safely be ranked as boroughs, and its 
wheat crop of 1881 amounted to three million 
bushels. The general average yield of wheat in 
the Province is given at twenty-three bushels to the 
acre. 

The large estanceros, as a class, are averse to hav- 
ing their estaiicias divided or given up to agricul- 
ture, although occasionally one is rented or sold for 
that purpose. The introduction of tillage in any 
form is mainly by the fostering care of govern- 
ment, by placing public lands within the reach of 
agriculturists, who are mostly foreigners. " The 
Spanish race, whatever has been its conquests in 
the field of Mars, has never been celebrated for its 
achievements in that of Ceres. It does not take 
kindly to that manual labor which extracts wealth 
out of the soil." 

The public lands are sold at public sale by the 
land commissioner at the cabildo (government house 
or town hall). Those for grazing or agriculture are 
sold in sections of a league square, or in half or 
quarter sections. The fractional sections are a 
league in length. Hence, by the expression " a 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



141 



quarter league" of grazing or agricultural land is 
meant a strip three miles long and three-quarters of 
a mile wide ; and by a half league, a strip three 
miles long by one and one-half miles wide. 

In the vicinity of the city of Buenos Ayres, and 
all other towns with any considerable population, 
small plots of ground are cultivated in fruits and 
vegetables for the city market. The products are 
more freely used by foreigners than natives. Such 
small plots of ground are sold by the commis- 
sioner under the names oi cliacra and quinta squares. 
As sold by the commissioner, a chacra lot is six 
hundred yards square, and a quinta lot one hun- 
dred and fifty yards square. In common parlance 
any small cultivated spot is a cliacra, and any 
house surrounded by trees or gardens is a quinta 
house. 

The agricultural colony of Bahia Blanca was 
established on the shore of the bay of the same 
name by the provincial government of Buenos 
Ayres. It was one of the first attempts at colo- 
nization on an extensive scale, and has been en- 
couragingly successful. The commodious bay offers 
superior advantages as a harbor for ships, and is 
not unknown to ocean traffic. It is now and pros- 
pectively the most important point on the Atlantic 



142 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

coast in the Argentine Republic. A railroad already 
connects its emporium, 'the town of Bahia Blanca, 
with the city of Buenos Ayres, and a proposition is 
pending for a concession for a railroad to connect it 
with the west coast of Chili, by way of the Bari- 
loche Pass. 

When the Province had donated its capital to 
the Federal Government, its next care was to select 
for itself a new location to which to remove 
the provincial " Lares and Penates." The site 
chosen is on the Bay of Ensenada in the La Plata 
River, thirty miles southeast of the city of Buenos 
Ayres. When the site was chosen it was a wilder- 
ness, but the Province set to work vigorously to 
make for itself a home. Ample blocks separated 
by wide streets were laid out, and numerous trees 
planted along its prospective avenues. Within two 
years after the selection of its location, the city of La 
Plata, the new capital of the Province, had twenty 
thousand inhabitants and finer public buildings than 
are to be found in any other provincial capital of 
the La Plata countries, if, indeed, they do not 
surpass those of any other South American city. A 
large sum is also being expended from the pro- 
vincial treasury in constructing a port on Ensenada 
Bay, which is expected to accommodate the largest 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 1 43 

class of ocean ships, and will be connected with the 
new city by a ship canal. 

As the making of adobes was too slow a process 
to meet the demands of the rising city, a number 
of frame houses, ready to put up, were imported 
from the United States. These made so favorable 
an impression, alike by their beauty, the rapidity 
of their construction, and their small cost compared 
with native houses of equal dimensions, that a 
number were ordered by estanceros in different parts 
of the Province. 



144 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE ENTREPOT OF THE INTERIOR. 

The term Rio de la Plata, which gives the name 
to the entire river system, in its local signification 
is now applied only to the estuary that receives the 
waters of numerous tributaries and mixes them 
equally with those of the ocean which it feeds. 
The contributions of the tributaries have already 
been collected in the Parana and Uruguay Rivers, 
which enter at the head of the estuary. In the 
lower part of these two rivers, earth and water 
have for centuries contended for the supremacy in 
a manner equally inimical to husbandry and navi- 
gation. The result is an inland archipelago, with 
an aggregate land surface of between 3000 and 
4000 square miles, two-thirds of which is in the 
Parana. The lower part of the Parana River — in 
which is the larger portion of this archipelago — 
is about thirty miles wide, and the average width 
of the river below the mouth of the Paraguay is 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. I45 

given at nine miles. Among many schemes for 
the advancement of the country that occupied the 
thoughts of statesmen in the early days of national 
independence, was one for the improvement of 
these islands. Fruit trees were planted on the 
higher ones, and on some of those little above the 
surface of the water the osier willow was intro- 
duced from Chili. As a first result of this scheme 
several noted patriots carried lighter purses, and 
had the opportunity of possessing their souls in 
patience while the more "practical minded" amused 
themselves over their folly. Years rolled on, and 
anarchy had shrouded in gloom the brightest hopes 
of the most hopeful, but still the willows grew and 
spread from island to island, and the fruit trees 
scattered seeds for a future gathering. Ultimately 
the willows of the Parana Islands have furnished 
a no inconsiderable supply of fuel to the citizens of 
Buenos Ayres and Montevideo, rivalling the plan- 
tations of peach trees cultivated for the same pur- 
pose. Also within a few years past osier basket 
work is becoming an industry of considerable im- 
portance, and promises an increasing development. 
The fruits from the islands are no insigniffeant item 
in the city markets, and a bitter drink called hes- 
peridena is made from their oranges. As an inci- 



146 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

dental result of that wild scheme of the dreamers, 
the tourist on the Parana now glides in and out 
among clustering gems of living verdure. Graceful 
willow boughs sweep the water's edge, and among 
their glossy leaves orange and lemon trees hold up 
their golden balls, and an occasional basket of lus- 
cious peaches brought on board attest epicurean 
wealth beyond the reach of the eye, while the scarlet 
clusters of the ciba blossoms hang from leafless 
boughs temptingly near yet exasperatingly remote 
from the outstretched hand. 

If haste require, the lower part of the archipelago 
may be omitted from a trip of the Parana by taking 
the railroad from Buenos Ayres to Campana. This 
railroad leads through a monotonous level of par- 
tially cultivated country, past the bleaching grounds 
where the Buenos Ayrean nymphs of cleanliness 
ply their avocation on the river's brink ; past the 
Palermo Palace, the country-seat of the Dictator 
Rosas, where his beautiful daughter Manualita pre- 
sided over his home with acknowledged grace, and 
from which she escaped with her father to an Eng- 
lish vessel in the roadstead the night after his over- 
throw. It was on the grounds surrounding this 
palace that he is said to have kept servants at work, 
at the point of the bayonet, washing the foliage of 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 1 47 

the trees leaf by leaf, and in its dining-room that 
he regaled his guests with savory dishes of human 
ears, taken, perhaps, from the heads of their dearest 
friends. 

In 1882 the "River Plata Meat Company" was 
organized in London for the purpose of supplying 
fresh frozen meat from the Argentine plains to the 
people of the British metropolis. It began opera- 
tions by erecting slaughter-houses, in connection 
with large enclosures for sheep, at Campana. The 
first shipment (to be followed by monthly consign- 
ments) was made in January, 1883. It consisted of 
7000 carcasses of an average weight of thirty-six 
pounds. It arrived in London in good condition, 
and a banquet was given in honor of the event by 
the company, at which the mutton was served in a 
variety of ways, and partaken of and complimented 
by a large number of the aristocracy and influential 
citizens. 

The Campana depot is surrounded by a thicket 
of low shrubs, overhung by some stately trees, 
noticeable among which is the wide-spreading 
onibu. Close by is the low wooden dock, at which 
lies the Santa Fe steamer that daily connects with 
the train. These little floating palaces, similar in 
their construction to those seen on our rivers, wind 



148 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

about among the islands in a most romantic fashion. 
Clothes drying on the bushes indicate human life, 
and an occasional mud hut shows a thought of 
fixed habitation. These are homes of Italian wood- 
choppers, whose industry is manifested by piles of 
willow " cord- wood" awaiting transportation. Some- 
times a canvas tent takes the place of the mud 
rancJio, but quite as frequently the blue vault of 
heaven and the leafy canopy is his only shelter. 

The villages on the lower Parana wear a look of 
decay. San Nicholas, one hundred and twenty miles 
above Buenos Ayres, is the first that presents the ap- 
pearance of life or business activity. It also has rail- 
road communication with the latter. It was here that, 
in answer to the call of the Governor of the Province 
of Santa Fe, the General Congress met after the 
expulsion of Rosas (1852), and signed the declara- 
tion in favor of republicanism. The fact that ten 
years elapsed before the full intent of this declara- 
tion was realized does not detract from the glory 
of San Nicholas. The town stands on a high bank 
sloping towards the river, and the balustrades of 
its fllat roofs and its cathedral spires are seen through 
clustering shade trees. It has a population of about 
10,000, and is the port of a good agricultural and 
grazing district. The National Congress of 1883 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



149 



deemed this consideration of sufficient importance 
to appropriate ;$ 120,000 to build it a wharf. 

There are comparatively few islands above San 
Nicholas, and the lake-like expanse of the river 
shows only a dim border of green for its further 
shore. The banks on the Santa Fe side are steep 
and abrupt, in many places showing the under- 
mining effect of the water. They are of yellow 
clay, in places mixed with a hard, calcareous earth 
called tosca, that is used in making hydraulic ce- 
ment. The channel lies near this shore. Thirty 
miles above San Nicholas a sharp curve in the 
river brings to sight the white-washed, blue-washed, 
yellow-washed walls of Rosario, the first commer- 
cial cit}'- of the Province of Santa Fe, and the second 
in the Argentine Republic. A shore depth of water 
unknown at lower points, and a freedom from sand- 
bars, gives it exceptional advantages as a shipping 
point. The site of the city is sixty-five feet above 
the level of the river. 

Nothing more surely indicates the advance made 
since the reconstruction of 1862 than the changes 
that have taken place on the Rosario River front. 
Then an insignificant building, that served for the 
receipt of custom dues, stood on the bluff almost 
alone. The cathedral towers appeared in the back- 



I^o LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

ground. Save these, few and unpretentious were the 
buildings seen from the deck of approaching vessels. 
Now a commodious custom-house with ample offices 
and airy corridors crowns the brow of the ridge, the 
low strip of ground along the water's edge is occu- 
pied by freight warehouses and shipping offices, and 
the whole curve of the river presents a succession 
of walls. The village of scarce three thousand 
souls has grown to the busy city of forty thousand. 
Its foreign and domestic commerce ranks second 
only to that of the city of Buenos Ayres. For 
the better accommodation of its commerce, in 
1883, an appropriation of ;^2, 100,000 was made by 
the national government for the improvement of the 
port. The streets about the docks and custom- 
house are all day long filled with the clumsy carts 
that serve as drays in connecting them with the 
railroad station and local business houses, and the 
still more cumbrous carretas that connect them with 
inland cities and villages. 

There is nothing magnificent about this " com- 
mercial emporium of Santa Fe," "the entrepot of the 
great interior." There are probably not more than 
a dozen houses in it of more than one story. There 
is no aristocratic quarter. Through one reja the 
passer may catch a glimpse of elegance, and through 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. I51 

the next of broken baldosas. Roofs are flat, but 
are little used, except when a street parade is in 
progress. The cielo raso (ceiling) of rooms is often 
only cotton cloth tacked to the rafters and papered 
over. Except for this purpose, wall-paper is used 
but little ; the inner walls being generally tastefully 
" color- washed" in panels. In the mind of the native 
architect, the one essential of a house is its easy 
convertibility from a dwelling to a business house, 
and vice versa. Houses are in good demand, and 
rents are high, A moderately good house, of the 
size shown in diagram on page 152, commands 
seventy-five to one hundred dollars per month rent. 
When it becomes desirable to increase the capacity of 
the part of the house devoted to business, it is only 
necessary to remove the partitions, which are made 
of a single tier of brick and plastered without lath. 
The accompanying plan gives a street front of 45 
feet : a, a, a, solid wall surrounding two sides and 
rear end of building lot ; b, wall on street ; doors 
indicated by blank space ; windows by blank space 
with dot in centre ; i, little parlor, sometimes used as 
sleeping-room ; 2, drawing-room or business house ; 
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, family rooms ; 10, dining-room ; 11, 
12, servants' " dens" ; 13, ironing- or store-room ; 14, 
saguan, a passage leading from front door to patio ; 



52 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



12 



17 




15 



h 

( 

h 
h' 
h 



I 14 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



■53 



15, front patio, in which pots of blooming plants 
grow, and the walls are covered with vines of fra- 
grant bloom. The Cape jasmine is a favorite. 
Sometimes an orange or fig tree grows in the centre, 
a square of the pavement being removed for its 
accommodation. 16, saguan, connecting the two 
patios ; 17, back/^/Zi?/ O, cistern or well. This may- 
be in the front patio, with a vine trained over it. 
(Well water is considered less wholesome than 

cistern water.) 18, kitchen; , fitgon or cooking 

range. This is a brick shelf built across the kitchen, 
with shallow depressions eight inches square or 
thereabout, in which are iron bars, two or three 
inches from the bottom, on which is laid a handful 
of charcoal. When ignited, the cooking vessel is 
put over it. The roof over the fitgon is funnel- 
shaped, but the little smoke given off by the char- 
coal is as likely to find its way into the eyes of 
the cook as into this funnel. Eight by ten feet 
would be regarded a very large kitchen. Pantries 
and closets do not enter into the calculations of 
house-keepers. There is no way of heating the 
rooms, except in houses intended for foreigners. 
No washing is done in the houses. The lavadera 
carries the soiled clothing in a huge bundle on her 
head from the house of her patron to the river 



154 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

brink, where she rubs them by hand in a shallow 
box, and piles them on the tosca and pounds with a 
club, then rinses them in the river and bleaches 
them on the tosca. Sometimes a hundred or more 
women may be seen standing from ankle to nearly 
waist deep in the water rinsing clothes. Soap is now 
generally used in the cities of the litoral.^ In the 
interior, saponaceous plants still supply its place. 

The streets of Rosario have a uniform width of 
twenty-four feet, with a shallow surface drain on 
each side. This is the only sewerage. The streets 
are paved with cobble-stones. The sidewalks are 
three feet wide, close against the houses, and are 
mostly paved with common building adobes, that 
quickly wear into miniature hills and valleys. On 
account of subsequent grading of the streets the 
sidewalks are left above them at an elevation of 
from two to eight feet, necessitating a constant 
ascending and descending that makes pedestrianism 
fatiguing. By city ordinance no one carrying a 
bundle or basket is allowed on the sidewalk. 

*The term litoral, meaning coast, is applied to the shore of the 
great river courses, as well as of the ocean. As there have been no 
towns upon the ocean coast until quite recently, by the cities of the 
litoral are really meant those on the Rio de la Plata and its tribu- 
taries. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. I55 

Hence laboring men, women, horses, and oxen 
trudge over the cobble-stones together. Carts 
make daily rounds to carry away the sweepings 
of the streets and the refuse of the houses. For 
this service each householder pays a monthly tax 
that varies with the needs of the city treasury. An 
English company supplies the town with gas, for 
which each householder pays a monthly tax for 
each street lamp illuminating his premises. A vari- 
able monthly tax is also paid on each door or gate, 
for the support of the police, or ccledor vigilante 
(called by English residents the sercnd). Until 1882 
the Rosario sereno called the state of the weather 
or condition of sublunary affairs at every half hour 
from ten p.m. until daylight. Every letter was 
prolonged in a monotonous chant that consumed 
nearly two minutes in the announcement, — " L-a-s 
o-n-c-e y vi-e-d-i-a, y t-o-d-o s-e-r-e-n-o ! " (half-past 
eleven, and all is calm), — the last word being varied 
for clouds, rains, fogs, or any other important 
particular. The presumption was that all the se- 
renos in the city made the announcement at the 
same moment. In practice, one took it up as the 
other had finished, and when the last had ended, 
the first was ready to begin the next call. The 
continual vigilance was so inimical to slumber there 



1^5 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

was little regret when the city fathers decided to 
dispense with the nocturnal solo. 

The sereno stands all day on the street corner or 
perambulates his short beat, clad in wide Knicker- 
bockers and short jacket, — in summer, white linen ; 
in winter, blue, black, or red woollen, — with a small 
knapsack on his back, a gun in his hand, and a 
short sword at his side. For what purpose he 
keeps his daily guard it would be hard to say, as 
he seems utterly oblivious to the various little 
services expected of city police in the United States. 
It was familiarly asserted that if asked the way to 
any given point his response is as likely to be " I 
will tell you for two reals," as any other, and that 
in case of disturbance he is as likely to be the 
disturber as the quieter of the agitation. It is but 
just to add that street disturbances are rare, and 
I knew of none, nor of any incivility on the part 
of any city employe. The only instance during 
a residence of two years in which I saw the Rosario 
serejto on active duty, two were marching off a 
couple of culprits who had stolen hymn-books from 
the Anglican chapel after the Sabbath service. 

The rejas on the windows of even new houses, 
and the heavy bolts and barricades of the doors, 
indicates the fear of robbery or other lawless intru- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



157 



sion. I was warned not to leave any articles near 
the windows that could be drawn through the rejas 
by hooks on the end of walking-sticks, but saw 
nothing to justify the warning. 

As yet Rosario has no city water-works. The 
people depend principally on cisterns for their water 
supply. Owing to soluble salts in the soil well 
water is regarded as unwholesome, and, when avail- 
able, well water is rarely used for culinary purposes. 
The supply from the cistern is supplemented by 
carts which peddle river water. A packet of water 
tickets costing sixty cents entitles the holder to 
forty large buckets of water, to be delivered daily 
in quantities to suit his convenience. Large earthen 
water-pots, similar to those of ancient Palestine, 
stand in the back patio to receive it, — " As the 
manner of the Jews was for purifying." If the river 
water be the sole family supply a small filter, made 
from lava, not unfrequently bears the water-pot 
company. But little use is made of ice. Moderate 
quantities of natural ice are obtained from the Falk- 
land Islands, and artificial ice may be obtained from 
Buenos Ayres city, where it is made ; but there is 
little demand for it among the natives. The favorite 
water-cooler is an unglazed earthen bottle with 
stopper of the same material, of the same pattern 



1^8 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

as was used by the Peruvians when, on his first 
landing on her coast, Marcus Pizarro was entertained 
by the hospitable Indian princess. The constant 
evaporation keeps the water fresh, which is not the 
case with that kept in glazed vessels. Although 
the water-bottle is a native article, for many years 
the potteries of Great Britain have supplied the 
greater number of those in use, as their facilities 
make it impossible for native workmen (or rather 
workwomen, for nearly all the pottery work in the 
La Plata is done by women) to compete with 
them. 

Business houses open early. The business is 
pre-eminently mercantile. Houses engaged in the 
wholesale and retail trade of imported manufactures 
are interspersed only with such industrial pursuits 
as local demand necessitates, such as blacksmith 
and carpenter shops and bakeries. The siesta is 
universally taken in the heat of the clay. In work- 
shops employes may be seen asleep in all postures 
after their eleven or twelve o'clock breakfast. It 
may be doubted if even a thief would then have 
ambition to ply his trade. 

A single street-car track makes a circuit of the 
city, and connects it at one extreme with the rail- 
road station and at the other with Plasa Lopez, a 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



59 



tiny sylvan retreat laid out with some care, but 
little frequented. Riding in the street-car after the 
sun is low until late in the evening is a popular 
way of taking the air. 

Etiquette demands that a lady shall be accom- 
panied on the street by a servant if she have no 
other companion. But a very small servant may 
" protect" her. When two ladies walk together a 
single one always takes the outside of the sidewalk 
and offers her hand to assist the married lady up 
and down the steps at the crossings. If both are 
married the elder lady is always given the place 
next the wall. When lady friends meet they salute 
each other with a resounding kiss on both cheeks. 
Gentlemen sometimes salute each other in like 
manner and often embrace each other rapturously. 
Great deference is always shown in public by gentle- 
men to ladies. A man and his wife are rarely seen 
on the street together, but daughters frequently 
accompany their fathers, who lavish caresses upon 
them unsparingly. The peon class maintain the 
non-committal expression of countenance character- 
istic of the Indian, and seldom make any public 
demonstration of emotion. 

As in the lower cities, the chancadero stands on 
the street corners and around the markets waiting 



l6o LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

to be hired. The milkman from the country car- 
ries his cans in leather pouches on horseback, and 
if the customer complains of the quality of the 
milk unhesitatingly declares that it has not been 
watered below the legal standard, or he may beg 
pardon and say that by mistake he took it from 
the wrong can. The pannier baskets of ox-hide, 
until within a few years, were as common here 
as in Montevideo and the towns of the interior, 
but are now superseded by the cart, which serves 
all draying purposes. This cart is a clumsy affair, 
with a bed resembling a wood frame or freight car. 
It is drawn by a single horse attached to the wooden 
tongue, of dimensions that might serve for a house 
sill, by means of a band drawn around its body as 
close-fitting as a sefiorita's corset. This band is 
called a cinch, and, with a bridle, constitutes the 
harness. A strip of raw-hide or a leather strap 
passes through a hole bored through the cart tongue 
near the end and ties it to the ciiicJi. When the 
cart is to be turned, the end of the tongue presses 
against the side of the horse. Cart-horses are pitia- 
ble looking objects, but if mention be made of them 
the general opinion is expressed, " They do not 
feel," or " They are cheap." The carrctas, for in- 
land journeys, are covered with canvas or thatch. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. l6i 

and are drawn by six or more yoke of bullocks. 
The bullock yoke corresponds with the massive 
cart tongue, and, resting close on the back of the 
heads of the cattle, bows them almost to the ground. 
No iron is used in the manufacture of the carretas, 
and, where wedging is not sufficient, tying with raw- 
hide is resorted to instead of nails. A mercantile 
caravan consists of from twenty to thirty of these 
carretas under the control of a " captain." A car- 
penter, called the " master," accompanies the cara- 
van. Eight thousand such caravans annually leave 
Rosario for various inland points in the several prov- 
inces. The average carrcta load is four thousand 
pounds. 

The carreta yard and the railroad station represent 
the Spanish-American and the Anglo-American ideas 
now harmoniously blending. Since the Spanish 
invasion, until within the past twenty years, " the 
cumbrous, creaking carrcta'' and the pack-horse or 
mule were the only means of transporting merchan- 
dise of any kind from one part of the La Plata 
countries to another, and in consequence it reached 
the consumer burdened with onerous charges. Until 
Rosario became a port of foreign entry, the cities 
of the interior received their supplies from Buenos 

Ayres. The cart road between that port and the 
I 14* 



1 52 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

city of Mendoza represented a distance of nine 
hundred miles, and three months were required for 
a caravan to make the journey. The cost of car- 
riage was from forty to one hundred dollars per 
load. When Rosario became a port of entry the 
people of Mendoza were enabled to reach a depot 
of European supplies by a carrcta path of only five 
hundred miles, and the consumption of imported 
articles increased accordingly. Until within the past 
year the citizens of this western capital were com- 
pelled to keep up their connection for at least a part 
of the distance to the La Plata ports with carrctas 
or pack-mules, and to receive all the manufactured 
goods used by them through their agency, or by 
the still more expensive one of troops of pack- 
mules over the Andes from the ports of Chili. 

Carrcta traffic is now supplemented by stage- 
coach lines, some of which receive a subsidy fi'om 
the provincial governments, and others are subsidized 
by the national government. In 1883 the province 
of Santa Fe had fourteen stage-coach lines, of 
which the principal ones had their headquarters in 
Rosafio. The stage-coach, called galera by the 
natives and diligejtce by the English residents, is a 
wooden-topped carriage, without springs, and in- 
tended to accommodate from ten to thirty pas- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 15^ 

sengers. Except what luggage can be stowed under 
the seats, all freight, including live fowls and fruits, 
quadrupeds, vegetables, and dry goods, are piled on 
the top. The galera is drawn by eight or twelve 
horses, four abreast, which are kept at a gallop, and 
are changed every ten or twelve miles. The driver's 
seat is on the top, or near the top of the coach in 
front, and an assistant rides one of the lead horses. 
An extra horse, hitched only by its head, gallops 
along with the others ready for an extra pull at the 
wheel in case of miring or unusually deep ruts. 
The puesta, where the horses are changed, may 
simply be a corral by the wayside, into which the 
horses for the change have been driven by an at- 
tendant before the arrival of the galera (in default 
of such promptness they are caught, where feeding, 
with the bolas), or it may be a wayside inn at which 
the traveller may find refreshment. Relays of 
saddle-horses may also be obtained by those prefer- 
ring this mode of travel. The charges for horses 
and attendants are moderate. Horseback is the 
favorite mode of travel among the Argentines. 
Country gentlemen usually prefer to take with them 
their own tropilla (little troop) of horses for their 
journey. For the accommodation of half a dozen 
gentlemen travelling in this way, a peon drives along 



1 54 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

from twenty to thirty loose horses. When a few 
leagues have been passed the saddles are changed 
to some of these fresh beasts, and in this way a 
continuous gallop is kept up, and from sixty to one 
hundred miles made in a day without great fatigue 
either to horse or rider. In the country, ladies often 
ride from eight to ten leagues for pleasure without 
complaining of fatigue. Spanish-American ladies 
are rarely seen on horseback in Rosario. The de- 
lights of equestrianship are there left almost wholly 
to their fair foreign neighbors, and the conveniences 
of it to marketmen and women and to beggars. 

" Beggars on horseback" is not a figure of speech 
here. They often make their rounds in this way. 
Several who are socially disposed sometimes bear 
each other company. Beggary is legalized, and the 
beggar is a notable if not a noteworthy member of 
society. Those licensed by the city wear a metal 
badge. They may ply their vocation at any time, 
but Saturday is regarded as pre-eminently " the 
beggar's day." On it they confidently expect to 
find something ready for them both at business and 
private houses, and to receive something from those 
whom they may meet on the street. They are not 
importunate, but expect their apparent misfortune 
and their badge to plead for them. Nor does his 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 165 

more opulent fellow-citizen find it necessary to warn 
them to " clear out !" He simply says pcnione me 
(excuse me), and the suppliant knows that he is to 
get nothing. The entrance to the cathedral and the 
edges of the sidewalk a little distance from the 
theatres are favorite resting-places for beggars, 
especially before the opening of a grdiXid fiuicion. 

Rosario has two theatres which receive consider- 
able patronage. These, with the church fiestas and 
patriotic celebrations, are the only popular public 
amusements. It is asserted by old residents that 
people now think of nothing but making money. 
That all classes have become infected with the desire 
to get rich to such an extent that they cannot 
take time even for the claims of religion; that to 
see a procession in honor of any of the saints, 
such as used to be here " in the good old times," 
one must now go to the cities of the interior. 

After Buenos x^yres this is the most " foreign," 
and in religion the most " liberal," city of the Re- 
public. It is estimated that three per cent, of the 
population are Protestants. This includes English 
residents who are adherents of the Anglican Church, 
adherents of the American Methodist Church, spirit- 
ualists, rationalists, infidels, and skeptics of every 
grade. 



1 66 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

Of the numerous church fiestas that in honor 
of My Lady of Rosario, the patron saint (or god- 
dess) of the city, is perhaps the most popular. 
On one occasion when I attended this fiesta, the 
cathedral bell rang at five o'clock in the afternoon 
to announce readiness for the pageant. Female 
worshippers multiplied rapidly, but men were scat- 
tered sparsely through the company during the 
first part of the service. (It is jestingly said that 
women go to church to worship and men go to 
admire them at their devotions.) As the cere- 
monies continued the number of these "admirers" 
increased. 

Raised on a platform in front of the altar stood 
a life-sized figure holding an infantile form in her 
left hand and in her right a silver sceptre almost 
as long as herself Her white satin dress, heavily 
embroidered with gold and trimmed with deep lace, 
fell over the platform in a long train. On her head 
was a crown that would outmeasure the six in the 
London Tower. Her platform and the space above 
it was adorned with huge bouquets of paper flowers 
and tawdry trinkets. At the ringing of a bell the 
worshippers prostrated themselves before her. The 
visible devotions consisted in crossing the forefinger 
of the right hand in front of the thumb, and with 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



167 



the latter touching, — ist. Right cheek, left cheek, 
forehead, and chin ; 2d. Right temple, left temple, 
forehead, and nose; 3d. With open palm, right 
shoulder, left shoulder, forehead, and breast. Be- 
tween each of these exercises the thumb is brought 
to the lips. 

With the well dressed these ceremonies were 
about equally divided with the adjustment of the 
dress. At a touch of the bell, the worshipper 
dropped gracefully on her knees, reached back and 
arranged the drapery over her feet in such a way 
as to display the trimming to the best advantage, 
kissed her thumb to the image, and if she chanced 
to espy an acquaintance, smiled and bowed to her, 
concluded the crossing motions, readjusted her 
flounces, bowed and smiled again, and again counted 
off prayers till the bell recalled her to her feet. 
The poorly dressed and those in mourning weeds 
or the costume of a vow never lifted their eyes 
from the image or ceased for a moment their mute 
supplications. At intervals the bell-ringing is 
changed to the swinging of censers. 

From a high box pulpit a priest pronounced a 
long eulogium in which the name Senora was fre- 
quently repeated. At regular intervals he prolonged 
the final syllable on, which was always followed by 



1 58 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

a murmured response from the kneeling multitude. 
Then followed more bell-ringing, more swinging 
of censers, more prostrations, more adjustment of 
flounces, more crossings and kissing of thumbs. 

Little boys appeared in front, and candles were 
taken from about the altar and put into their hands. 
Men in tatters went forward and took their places 
as torch-bearers. The platform was taken on men's 
shoulders. Two military bands in front of the 
cathedral struck up their harsh music, an anthem 
was chanted, and the image began its journey, fol- 
lowed by the officiating priests in long white satin 
mantles embroidered with gold. They were sup- 
ported on either side by priests in more scant robes 
of the same material and having lace about their 
skirts. These were followed by other priests of 
various orders, none of which represented the fakir 
or starveling class. Whatever may be the faults of 
the national religion, it does not interfere with 
digestion, if the clergy be taken as specimens. 

At the cathedral door the torch-bearers closed 
ranks after the priests. One military company pre- 
ceded and another followed the cortege, which 
moved slowly through the streets. A halt was 
made at the corner and middle of each block, 
where a carpet was spread in the street and a table 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



169 



placed on it as a resting-place for the sacred burden. 
During each of these pauses praises were chanted 
and incense burned, the supporters of the officiating 
priest holding back his mantle as he swung the 
censer. Some worshippers prostrated themselves 
in the dust. A few laid their faces on the ground. 
(None of these were of the gente decente.) Again 
the image was raised ; again flowers were strewed 
in her way ; again the drums beat and the soldiers 
thrust back the people to clear a passage until the 
circuit of the principal blocks of the city was made, 
and between the files of torch-bearers the image 
was restored to its place in the cathedral as the 
last rays of the sun were gilding the tree-tops. 

At the festival of Corpus Christi a human figure 
of heroic size, ghastly with imitation blood drops, 
recumbent in a glass case, that serves for a bier, 
is carried around a few squares and back to the 
cathedral, where crowds of women and children, 
and an occasional man, kiss the hangings of the bier, 
then turn to supplicate " The Mother of God" and 
drop an offering into her outstretched apron. 

The cemetery is a league beyond the city limits. 
The enclosing walls are only thick enough to allow 
the coffins to be put into the receptacle sidewise. 
This gives more room for memorial tablets than m 

H IS 



lyo LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

the Montevideo cemetery, but on them I failed to 
find any expression of the comfort of the Christian's 
hope. They bear rather the wail of bleeding hearts 
and a dread of the unknown future into which the 
departed have entered, for the mitigation of whose 
sufferings prayers are implored. Here, too, the re- 
ceptacles in the wall are rented. The greater part of 
the enclosure is occupied with simple vaults, pagodas, 
rotundas, etc., filled with receptacles for the dead, 
the style of the building indicating the social rank 
of the occupant. Some of these, also, are rented. 

The " Well" is the refuge of bankrupt tenants. 
It is a huge, dry cistern near the corner of the 
cemetery most remote from the entrance, covered 
with a hinged iron lid, I lifted that lid for one 
suffocating moment. Grinning skulls, dried mus- 
cles, arms, legs, dry bones, putrefying bodies of all 
sizes, were heaped upon each other as tossed from 
the cart " in one rude burial blent." 

The " Potter's Field" has no separating wall. It 
is simply a wide trench parallel with the wall, be- 
ginning near the " Well." Into it, without coffin or 
winding-sheet, the poor are cast and a little earth 
thrown over them. The portion most recently used 
forms a ridge about two feet above the general level. 
Once, where part of the trench had been opened 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. I^j 

ready to receive a body (although none could be 
interred before the next day), I saw a human foot 
protruding from the loosened soil. 

All Souls Day (the 2d of November) being that 
on which souls may be released from purgatory, is 
the great day of the year at the cemetery. All 
classes resort thither, hoping by their prayers and 
offerings to mitigate the sufferings of their dead, 
even if they cannot effect their deliverance. It 
is also the day on which the living garland the 
tombs of their dead. Wreaths of bead-work are 
much in vogue for this purpose, as they last through 
the year; but every kind of ornament is used. Be- 
fore the more costly shrines, in wreaths on the wall, 
in clumps of shrubbery, and in tufts of coarse grass 
and wild flags, candles are lighted, and beside them 
prostrate figures count their prayer-balls. Before 
some of the most costly tombs hired mourners 
continue a doleful wailing. Even by the side of 
the poor man's trench a few half-penny tapers flicker, 
tokens of the human love vainly seeking to dispel 
the gloom from the next life with the earth-lights 
that have as vainly sought to dispel the shadows 
from the life that now is. By the " Well," fit em- 
blem of a hopeless eternity, neither love nor super- 
stition lights a torch. 



1^2 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

These yearly lamentations for the dead often con- 
tinue through the week, the wailings of the wealthy 
being kept up by hired mourners. But the true 
mourners must visit the graves at least once during 
the week to light the candle for their dead. This 
practice must be continued till death dries the foun- 
tain of their tears. 

Formerly All Souls Day was celebrated by osten- 
tatious ceremonies performed by the priests in the 
cemetery as well as in the cathedral, and a remu- 
nerative traffic carried on in dead men's souls. But 
a few years ago the priests came in collision with 
the municipality on the question of the burial of a 
Protestant stranger. The municipality came out 
victor in the contest, and now it may bury whom it 
pleases within those walls, while the priests are ex- 
cluded on this day of days. Even though there be 
a funeral, they must conclude their ministrations 
outside the gate. There is now also a Protestant 
cemetery a little more than a league from the city, 
where, with others, a {q:\^ North Americans " sleep 
the last sleep." 

When death enters a La Plata household, the 
body lies in state, but the family is invisible. Some- 
times the corpse is placed in a sitting posture, 
dressed as handsomely as possible, and surrounded 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



173 



by flowers. Before it hired mourners make night 
hideous. Near and remote relatives go into mourn- 
ing. For men this is the simple crape on the hat, 
with the customary black suit; for women a plain, 
black trailing robe, a black Cashmere shawl pinned 
close over the head, whence it hangs straight down 
the back, often dragging upon the ground, and a 
long, black crape veil which shrouds the face. 
For a husband this garb is worn three years, for 
a parent two years, for a sister or brother one 
year, and for cousins from three to nine months. 
Crape hangs on the door from six weeks to six 
months. During the first three weeks of mourning 
only the most intimate friends may make visits of 
condolence, and then they are not received by a 
member of the family, but by some one in attend- 
ance for the purpose. Later the afflicted family 
may receive such calls in a room destitute of pict- 
ures, flowers, and all ornaments. The members of 
the family make no visits within six months, and 
no evening visits within nine months. Married 
ladies make no calls within a year after going into 
mourning. A piano is not opened within three 
months after a death has occurred in a house, and 
in case of the rending of near ties, music and all 
pleasant things are banished for a year. 



174 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



CHAPTER XII. 

AMUSEMENTS AND INCIDENTS. 

" Carnival," the Saturnalia of the Romish Church, 
is the great fiesta, — the event of the year. Every- 
thing looks forward to it. Everything stops for it. 
Everything dates from it. It can scarcely be called 
a religious festival, yet it is one fostered by the 
church. A devout lady explained to me: "The 
Holy Church has found it necessary to give this 
respite to her faithful children as a preparation, that 
they may be able to endure the sore rigors of the 
long season of mourning. They have carnival to 
brace them up for Lent." 

In 1 88 1 this season of special preparation for the 
contemplation of our Lord's death began on Sabbath, 
February 27. As it was my first carnival season 
there, I observed it closely. For weeks preceding 
the windows of business houses were filled with 
masks of all descriptions and other appliances for 
its proper observance. Chief among these appli- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 1 75 

ances is the porno, a small can or bottle of soft, 
flexible tin, with screwed cap over the small neck. 
The pomo varies in length from three to nine inches, 
and in diameter from half an inch to two inches. 
The cost of a common article is from twenty-five 
cents to one dollar. But the quality, quite as much 
as the quantity, of the contents determines the value. 
The poind contains perfumed water. Every variety 
of perfume is discernible. It is said that poisoned 
pomos are used as a means of taking vengeance on 
an enemy, or settling an old grudge. The top being 
removed, and the pomo squeezed between the finger 
and thumb, a fine, steady stream of water is poured 
upon the object of attack. The chief aim is at the eye. 
The ear is the next mark in favor ; then the neck and 
mouth. But no part enjoys immunity. The only 
way to escape being made a target is to stay close 
within doors and see that every crevice is closed. 
The custom is said to be of great antiquity, coming 
down from the Moors, and is a refinement on the 
practice formerly in vogue of deluging* with pailfuls 

* A close analogy may be traced between this phase of the carni- 
val and the Buddhist celebration of the new year, which, as practised 
in Laos, is thus described by Miss Emelie McSilvary : " All, espe- 
cially the young, give themselves up to a peculiar form of merry- 
making, consisting in giving every one a shower. . Armed with 



1^6 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

of water, — a custom which is not yet altogether 
extinct. 

Until the church lost its absolute power, utter 
lawlessness prevailed during the days of carnival. 
Whatever came into human thought might express 
itself in action. But now the civil power interposes 
some restrictions. It has prohibited the buckets of 

buckets of water and bamboo reeds, by which they can squirt the 
water some distance, these people place themselves at the doors and 
gates and on the streets ready to give any passer-by a drenchhig, 
marking out as special victims those who are foolish enough to wear 
good clothes on such a day. It is most amusing to watch them, after 
exhausting their supply of water, hasten to the river or well and run 
back, fearing the loss of one opportunity. Sometimes several tor- 
rents are directed to one poor individual ; then, after the drenching, 
shouts of laughter fill the air. On this day the king and his court, 
with a long retinue of slaves, go to the river. Some of the attend- 
ants carry silver or brass basins filled with water perfumed with some 
scented shrub or flower. . . . The perfumed water is then poured on 
the king's head, afterwards on the heads of the nobles. . . . The 
custom is also observed in families. A basin of water is poured on 
the head of the father, mother, and grandparents by the eldest son 
or by some respected member of the ifamily. This ceremony has 
some religious significance, being symbolical of blessing and felicity. 
A formula of prayer accompanies the ceremony in each case." 

Perfumed water is also used by Buddhist women in the ceremony 
of " bathing the idols." 

" Siam and Laos as seen by our Missionaries" Presbyterian Board 
of Publication. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



m 



water and the paper douche. The latter was made 
by roUing a large sheet of paper, twisting the end, 
filling it with water, and dropping it from the house- 
top or balcony on the head of a passer-by. The 
weight and accumulated momentum gained in fall- 
ing inflicted a severe blow at the same moment that 
the bursting paper gave an inopportune bath. The 
many murders committed in retaliation caused the 
interference of the civil power. In Rosario the law 
forbidding the douche includes the whole city; but 
in Montevideo certain streets are yet legally given 
up to it, and whoever ventures on those streets must 
take the consequences. 

The civil power in Rosario has reached farther, 
forbidding the use of beans. To insure the ob- 
servance of this new edict, the sale or use of can- 
dies is prohibited. The law raised an outcry among 
confectioners ; but soldiers stood around with bay- 
onets fixed and swords unsheathed. Formerly, im- 
mense quantities of beans were sugar-coated, in 
readiness for these street sports, and people pelted 
each other with them. They were showered from 
house-tops and hurled from windows. The sensa- 
tion produced by such pelting may be imagined. 
The loss of eyes and other bodily injuries were 
the not infrequent result. 



lyS LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

The municipality has also decreed that, within 
the bounds of its control, carnival shall on no day 
begin before ten a.m. But in this it has not been 
so successful. The porno is uncontrollable, as are 
also the india-rubber water-bags. 

There was no service at the cathedral during the 
first three days of carnival. Even the usual daily 
mass was omitted. All the first day (the Sabbath), 
individuals, pairs, or companies, dressed in their 
peculiar uniforms, walked the streets or called on 
their lady friends. One noticeable uniform was 
that of a Spanish knight of the fourteenth century. 
It was made of bright green lined with white, and 
ornamented with white and tinsel trimmings. The 
street-car company had the opportunity of redeem- 
ing former losses. As the car passed, water was 
dashed in at the doors and against the windows, 
and those who occupied it plied their poinds on 
each other. As the afternoon wore away, the 
streets became more thronged. At eight p.m. they 
were crowded. At nine, bands of music started from 
the Government House, followed by two large 
fancifully decorated wagons, in which were young 
ladies dressed in allegorical costume, and a com- 
pany of young men representing the Republic. 
Other carriages were starting from other points. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. lyg 

and gayly decked private carriages, with ladies in 
fancy dress, were rumbling through the various 
streets. For weeks in advance young ladies are 
busy making mottoes and devices not unlike book- 
marks, which they present to their gentlemen friends, 
who wear them pinned across the breast. I counted 
eight on a knight in green. Others had their 
jackets well covered with them, while some wore 
only one or two. This custom is probably a rem- 
nant of the days of chivalry, a shadow of the ghost 
that Cervantes laughed out of Spain. 

The streets which intersect the city, from north 
to south and from east to west, and cross each 
other in the heart of the business section, were 
brilliantly illuminated by arches of gas jets span- 
ning them at short intervals, by Chinese lanterns 
and groups of crystal lights, the effect of which 
was very pretty. Between the gas arches, cords 
crossed the streets covered with all manner of flags. 
Flags also floated over many houses. 

On these streets roofs, balconies, and pavements 
were densely crowded. At ten p.m. the procession 
passed through them. The police cleared the way 
at its approach, but the crowd closed around the 
carriages, pouring the contents of their poinds into 
the faces and on the bare shoulders and arms of 



l8o LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

the ladies, who tried to protect their eyes with 
their glass fans while they returned the pomo 
drenching. Soon after eleven p.m. flags were drawn 
in, lights extinguished, and comparative quiet pre- 
vailed. Monday was a repetition of the Sabbath. 

Throughout the gayeties, red was a conspicuous 
color in the dress of the ladies. Yellow combined 
with black, and yellow without much combination, 
were also noticeable. The government ladies wore 
the national colors, blue and white. By day as 
well as at night, harlequins of every description 
paraded the streets. On Tuesday night the streets 
were more densely crowded than on either of the 
preceding evenings. Maskers of all grades and 
pojnd pedlers dodged in and out among the car- 
riages, the latter plying a lucrative trade. 

On Wednesday ashes took the place of water. 
Mass was said in the cathedral, but whoever ven- 
tured out ran the risk of having brocade or broad- 
cloth transformed into sackcloth. A sort of swab, 
or trowel, or patch of cloth, or leather dipped in 
ashes, or, better, in flour or chalk, from which the 
passer received a blow, took the place of the poind. 
The effect of such white patches on one's garments 
is extremely ludicrous. 

Then came a respite. Thursday, Friday, and Sat- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. jgi 

urday business could go on, while the faithful re- 
cruited their energies for " the great day of the 
feast." On Sabbath, March 6, from early morn- 
ing grotesque faces paraded the streets. All day 
the street cars were subjected to spasmodic shower- 
baths. All day the pavements were wet from the 
porno warfare. Door-ways were crowded with 
women and girls engaged in it, and scuffles with 
their assailants were not infrequent. At dusk bells 
began to clang and drums to beat. Before nine 
o'clock the streets were thronged with vehicles of 
every description. At ten, soldiers cleared the way 
for the corzo. First came a funeral car, on which 
lay the figure of a human body with a sheet thrown 
over it. The face was bare, — a ghastly, grinning 
visage. On each corner of the car sat a man in 
black mask, with glaring eyes, holding a taper and 
wearing a very high hat with long crape streamer. 
Next after the funeral car marched the " Company 
of the Republic," carrying rich banners garlanded 
with flowers. After them came the government 
wagons with ladies, and next the "Company of the 
Country," with band, banner, and wreaths ; more 
carriages; the "Company of the Epoch;" carriages; 
the " Company of the City ;" carriages of ladies ; a 
company of horsemen ; clowns ; fifteen carriages ; 



1 82 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

six open street cars, crowded inside, on the steps, 
and on the roof; six carriages ; another company 
of horsemen ; two street cars ; buffoons ; more car- 
riages ; charlatans ; pdjrid pedlers ; masqueraders. 

It was a grotesque mingHng of the solemnity of 
mourning, the strains of merriment, and the triumph 
of justice. The "death" part of the procession en- 
tered the Market Square, where was a platform, 
which the four companies mounted with their bands 
of music. The platform was enclosed with festoons 
of gay lanterns, balloons, and the like, which, as 
the music continued, resolved themselves into a 
series of fireworks. Finally, one by one the posts 
became whirling firewheels, from which stars and 
rockets were hurled. While this was going on the 
companies continued dancing wildly. As the last 
post was extinguishing itself, amid the continuous 
roar of fire-crackers, bursting torpedoes, and shoot- 
ing rockets, the dense smoke of saltpetre and sul- 
phur, and drippings from flaming tar-kegs, the 
dancers leaped to the ground, formed in rank, and 
conducted the corpse, which represented Judas, to 
the other end of the Market Place, where was a 
scaffold, to which it was raised. But the tragedy 
was not yet complete. Judas not only hanged him- 
self, but "burst asunder in the midst." By the help 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 183 

of a torch, his representative proceeded not only to 
burst asunder in every part of the body, but every 
fissure emitted flame. Arms shot away in fire- 
crackers and rockets. Muscles disappeared in 
bright streams through his mail leggings and boots. 
The top of his head flew off" with a loud explosion. 
In the continuous whirling of the body the toes 
shot themselves away; and, finally, when nothing 
remained but the boots, they became a revolving 
star with many-colored rays, which went out one 
by one. As the last ray grew dim the mourners 
and executioners again formed in procession and 
marched off to their several headquarters, where 
sumptuous banquets awaited them, and where, with 
their masked partners, they would dance till morn- 
ing. In like manner several private Judases were 
burned in different parts of the city. 

" Burning Judas" is not confined to the carnival 
ceremonies. The traitor makes himself conspicuous 
on many occasions. If a bonfire of Bibles is to be 
made, Judas lights the pile. 

In country places carnival is celebrated by the 
free use of the poind; young people going from 
house to house to play it upon each other. To 
thus signalize a friend is regarded as a mark of 
courtesy. The evenings are given to dancing. 



1 84 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



Throughout the La Plata a fondness for py- 
rotechnic displays is manifested and large sums 
are expended on them. It matters little whether 
the occasion that calls out the enthusiasm of the 
people be religious, social, or patriotic, fireworks 
in some form is likely to be a part of the pro- 
gramme. 

The most lavish displays are in celebration of 
national independence. Two Independence Days 
are thus celebrated, — the 25th of May, on which 
independence was declared in Buenos Ayres in 
1 8 10, and the 9th of July, the anniversary of the 
united declaration of independence made in Tucu- 
man in 18 16. 

A singular incident was related to me by 
creditable parties of the substitution of fire- 
crackers for the marriage ceremony, which illus- 
trates a phase of society. As a class the peons 
are extremely poor. In the Province of Santa 
Fe the priest's fee for performing the marriage 
ceremony is forty dollars. As there is no other 
legalized mode, and as not one ped7i out of a 
thousand could accumulate that amount in a 
lifetime, the luxury of the rite matrimonial is 
pretty generally dispensed with among them. 
There is also a considerable laxity of practice 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



[85 



among those who would not be willing to be 

classed as peons. Among the better class a desire 

is manifested to see this evil remedied. As an 

expression of this sentiment, a wealthy cstanccro, 

living some distance from Rosario, gave to a couple 

living on his cstancia the requisite forty dollars, 

and let them have horses to go to town for the 

purpose of being made husband and wife. They 

set out, much elated with the prospect. Meeting 

an acquaintance, they told him their good fortune, 

and receiving his congratulations invited him to 

return with them to the nearest pu/pctia, where 

they purchased a bunch of fire-crackers with 

which to celebrate the happy event, and stood 

around them as they snapped. In this way the 

journey was gladdened at each pulpcria where 

they rested their horses, and at each meeting of 

old friends, until, when the cathedral loomed 

before them, half of the money had vanished. 

They stood together before the altar to be made 

man and wife. The ceremony was begun in due 

form and the priest extended his hand for the 

money, when the remaining twenty dollars was 

put into it. 

" This is not enough," said the priest. 

" It is all we have," was the answer. 
16* 



1 86 J^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

" You must add another twenty dollars," de- 
manded the priest. 

" But we have no more," 

The altercation grew spirited. 

"I will not marry you without the forty dollars," 
asserted the priest, 

" Very well," responded the twain ; " we have 
lived together fourteen years without your per- 
mission, and we can get along without it still," 

So they remounted their horses, and spent the 
remaining twenty dollars for fire-crackers for the 
return ride. 

Another incident was laughingly related of the 
manner in which one of the most influential and 
respected of the g-ente decente outwitted the priest 
and won his bride, that illustrates a possibility 
connected with the marriage ceremony, — the le- 
gality of a marriage by proxy. 

Before a legal marriage can be performed, the 
expectant bridegroom must receive absolution 
from a priest. To obtain absolution presupposes 
confession. In the instance related, the candidate 
for matrimonial honors was a young man of " liberal 
ideas" and dauntless spirit, who resolved not to 
submit in any wise to the superstition that ar- 
rogated to any human being the right of spiritual 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. \%y 

interference, at the same time he was determined 
to have his bride lawfully. The lady lived in 
Cordoba, where the ceremony was to be performed, 
but whither at that time it was impossible for the 
expectant Benedict to repair in person ; hence a 
certificate of absolution was indispensable. While 
his brother waited, ready mounted, he presented 
himself before a priest, stated his wish, and de- 
manded the certificate. 

" I cannot give it until you confess." 

" You must give it. Do me the favor not to 
make further delay." 

"You must confess." 

" This is my only confession," and a cocked 
pistol was brought suggestively near to the priest's 
forehead. 

The certificate was given without further delay. 
The waiting horseman sped away with it, and the 
next day, as his brother's proxy, plighted his troth 
to the lady, with all due formalities, in the pres- 
ence of her friends, and, as speedily as the fleetest 
horses rendered it possible, brought her back with 
him to her happy husband, among whose friends 
also the event was appropriately celebrated and 
the lady received with magnificent demonstrations 
of welcome. 



1 88 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

More exhilarating than any fiesta, pyrotechnic 
display, or gotten-up exhibition of any kind, is a 
gallop over the prairies with companions who can, 
for the time being, abandon themselves to freedom 
from the perplexities of existence and inhale the 
elixir of life with the breath of alfalfa and thistle 
blossoms. On, and on, and on, over the green 
sward, sprinkled with scarlet clusters of wild ver- 
benas and geraniums and a hundred other flowers, 
with no bound in sight but the blue horizon, and no 
habitation near save the burrow of the biscacho,* 
at whose door the little gray owl stands sentinel, 
and near by dozes the proprietor in his brownish- 
gray fur mantle, and chews his cud till warned of 
approaching danger. Then his hind feet twinkle 
a moment in the air as he disappears into his under- 
ground citadel. A blue-gray bird crouching in the 



* The biscacho is a ruminant quadruped about a foot in length, 
which burrows everywhere throughout the Argentine plains. Some- 
times their underground galleries are several acres in extent, and 
make horseback riding dangerous, as the horse's feet are liable 
to sink in the holes. With a free rein the horse, accustomed to 
the plains, selects safe ground for himself. The biscacho is de- 
structive of all kinds of vegetation. Its skin is used to a limited 
extent for rugs and foot-muffs, and its flesh is sometimes eaten. 
It is unknown in the plains of Uruguay. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 1 89 

grass turns his peering black eyes this way and that, 
then spreads his white-hned wings and skims low 
over the grass, screaming, ^' ticrra, tierra!" A 
scissor-bird hastens from our approach, clipping the 
air with its two long caudal feathers. The galcra, the 
primal stage-coach, rolls, and rumbles, and swings 
along the ruts its kindred wheels have worn in the soft 
loam, its eight horses, four abreast, and the " cinch 
horse" at the wheel, kept at the gallop. Anon, a 
company of thatched carrctas, each drawn by a 
dozen bullocks, and leading one hitched behind it 
in case of emergency, on their way from the custom- 
house. On, past chacras of maize, artichoke, beans, 
and garlic ; past cstancias, each with its own appro- 
priate name, whose proprietors are affability itself. 
Enter any one of these homes, hut or mansion, and 
the utmost hospitality is extended. No host more 
readily recognizes the gcntlcinan, or more promptly 
accords him marked courtesy. 

The Argentine saddle-horse is of easy gait, fleet, 
well trained, and capable of great endurance. After 
a delightful gallop of several leagues I asked the 
owner for how much he would sell the horse I rode. 
His answer was, " I cannot say that I want to part 
with it. It is rather a favorite with me. But if I 
should sell it, I could not take less than thirty dol- 



igO LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

lars." In the cities the cost of keeping a horse is 
such that he very soon " eats his head off." 

There are several British and a few North Amer- 
ican estanceros within a few leagues of Rosario, 
whose words indicate their full conviction that this 
is the heart of the universe, especially for money- 
making. They divide their attention about equally 
between cattle and sheep. As there are few running 
streams, a water supply for their flocks and herds 
must be obtained by sinking wells, which some of 
them admit is a trifling drawback. But it is seldom 
necessary to dig more than thirty feet. The water 
is drawn in large wooden buckets with trap bottom, 
by a horse attached to a long sweep or chain. The 
windmill might relieve him, and is being introduced 
to a limited extent, but so long as his value does 
not exceed sixteen dollars, the equine millennial 
dawn is likely to be procrastinated. 

By invitation of one of these estanceros I wit- 
nessed the exciting sport, or business, of separating 
the cattle. A drove of seven or eight thousand had 
been corralled the night before, and after an early 
breakfast our party galloped over two or three 
leagues of prairie to the scene. Some thirty peons 
were already assembled. The herd was turned out 
of the corral and around it on the open camp. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



191 



Mounted peons took their stations at regular dis- 
tances. A few, on the fleetest horses, stood near. 
At a signal from the manager a horseman dashed 
into the herd after the animal designated. Usually- 
several, panic-stricken, made a dash for the open 
plain, the rider giving chase only to the one wanted. 
The object of the rider was always to direct the 
course of the animal to the part of the camp as- 
signed to the fat cattle. If he took that direction 
all was well; if not, an exciting chase ensued. Fre- 
quently the bovine exceeds the equine in fleetness 
for a considerable time, and baffles him in the 
rapidity and eccentricity of his turnings. Other 
riders join in the pursuit, and the welkin rings with 
the echoes of wild life. Those stationed in the 
outer circle check the course of the flying brute as 
he approaches them. When the chase fails to turn 
his course as desired the lasso is thrown, and one 
or two horsemen drag him away, or the bolas flies 
from the pursuer's hand and the race comes to a 
sudden end. Although these two methods are in 
constant use by the butchers, they are seldom em- 
ployed in separating the fat cattle from the herds. 
Before we returned for luncheon eight hundred 
cattle had been culled from the herd and re-corralled 
ready to be driven to an alfalfa (lucerne) field, pre- 



1^2 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

paratory to their journey to the Rosario shambles, 
where it was expected that fifteen dollars per head 
would be realized for them. The alfalfa pasture is 
the only " stall-feeding" known to the Argentine 
ox, and is scarcely more relished than the succulent 
thistle that comes up and covers the ground as the 
spring grass dies. 

These thistles grow from three to five feet high. 
Their dry stalks are often used for fuel, as are also 
the dead stalks of other weeds. The stalks are 
gathered in bundles in their season, and laid up for 
future use. This is the only supply for fuel in 
sections of the pampas too remote from the city for 
charcoal pedlers, and where peach trees or other 
wood is not grown for the purpose. Where tim- 
ber is grown for fuel, the peach is preferred on 
account of its rapid growth. In three years after a 
peach plantation has been set the cutting may be- 
gin. A large kettle, resembling the "soap kettle" 
known to North American countrywomen, is often 
seen near to the home on the pampas, with a cliene 
[peon woman) crouched beside it feeding the fire 
with weed stalks. 

At a native estancia I enjoyed an excellent din- 
ner cooked in this way. Into the kettle were put 
a lamb that I saw caught from the majada with a 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. ip^ 

lasso, several fowls caught in the same way by a 
boy of eight years, a pumpkin cut into small 
squares, a handful of quartered potatoes, a head of 
cabbage, some rice, and minor ingredients. The 
first course served was rice soup. Then followed 
a mutton stew, composed of the dissevered verte- 
brae, garnished with bits of boiled pumpkin and 
cabbage. After this, boiled leg of mutton and po- 
tatoes. Then fowl with rice. After which baker's 
bread from the city, thirty miles away, and cheese, 
made on the cstancia the week before, followed 
by sweetmeats, which closed the meal. 

The langosta, or locust, first cousin to the Kansas 
grasshopper, is the occasional scourge of the campo. 
I one day rode for nearly an hour over a troop of 
them, marching along in as good order as the best 
disciplined soldiery. A few days afterward a sim- 
ilar host encamped on the young peach orchard of 
my entertainer, and in a few hours stripped it of 
every green leaf. The insect has a choice of food, 
however; and although every peach leaf may fall a 
prey, and every grapevine lose its foliage, the vege- 
tables beside them may escape untouched. Neither 
do they overspread the whole country, but travel 
over comparatively narrow strips. When it is seen 
that they have destroyed the pastures in one locality, 



IQ4 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

it is simply necessary to change the herds to an- 
other. The superstition that they are sacred in- 
sects, because a darker shade of color down the 
centre of the body is " crossed" by a similar shade 
at the shoulder, prevents any systematic means of 
extermination or of limiting their ravages. The ant 
is more universal in its depredations, and must be 
guarded against, alike in city and country, by gar- 
dener, florist, and house-keeper. Its fondness for 
shoe-leather is not one of its least aggravating 
characteristics. Among insects, the almost invis- 
ible bicho colarado, or "jiggar," that multiplies 
by millions on the grass, and the vinchuco, or 
"flying bedbug, an inch long," that finds its favorite 
home on the paradise tree, but enters houses and 
hides in any crevice during the day, then makes a 
nocturnal raid on the sleepers, are especially 
annoying. 

Zonda, tormenta, temporal, and pampero are the 
euphonic and emphatic terms denoting the state of 
the weather, which bears the burden of human ills 
the world over. The zonda is the hot north wind 
that gives everybody the headache. Tormenta is 
the general name for a storm, and temporal is the 
summer shower. The pampero comes from the 
south with a wide sweep of the compass, on either 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. ipj 

land or water. On land it is the La Platean cyclone, 
and carries great clouds of dust gathered from the 
pampas. Occasionally clouds of thistles and thistle- 
down make the pampero particularly disagreeable. 
Hutchison describes the luckless wight caught in 
such a temporal as having " the appearance of hav- 
ing been dragged through a flour-sack or feather- 
bed and ducked in a horse-pond." 

Soon after my arrival in Rosario I had heard 
the mutterings of distant thunder without giving 
much attention, and sallied out on a prearranged 
purpose. Before I had walked two blocks the air 
was so thick with dust I could not see across 
the street, and I had to protect my eyes from the 
sharp onslaught of sand. A dry hide from a bar- 
racca clattered over my head, grazing my hat. I 
was forced to take refuge in the first open door; 
but whether it was opened for my benefit, or the 
tardy servant was about to close it against the 
storm, I did not know. The wind was followed by 
a torrent of rain that speedily converted the sand 
that had lodged in the patio into mud half a foot 
deep. The street was transformed into a river. The 
violence of the storm was soon exhausted ; but two 
hours later, in order to get home, I had to mount 
the street car by a plank placed from the threshold 



Ip5 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

of the door to the rear platform of the car. After- 
wards, warned by muttering thunders or darkening 
skies, I complacently enjoyed the temporal, tormenta, 
and pampero through a pane of window-glass. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



197 



CHAPTER XIII. 

RAILROADS AND COLONIZATION. 

By the census of 1882 the population of Rosario 
was thirty-two thousand two hundred and four. At 
the time of the reconstruction of the Argentine Re- 
pubHc this " entrepot of the great interior" was a 
village of only three thousand inhabitants. Indi- 
rectly, the civil war in the United States contributed 
to the impulse that changed the village into the city. 
Because of that war English manufacturers were 
obliged to seek elsewhere for material to keep their 
spindles running. A rumor reached Manchester 
that thousands of acres of good cotton were grow- 
ing wild along the Salado River, and Earl Russell 
directed the British consul, resident at Rosario, to 
make a tour through the section indicated and ascer- 
tain the truth of the rumor; and, if he found such 
to be the case, to ascertain how the crop could most 
cheaply be gotten into the English market. Wild 

cotton was not found in any considerable quantity, 
17* 



1^8 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

nor yet cheap labor for its cultivation. Although 
the report as to soil and climate adapted thereto was 
most favorable, the necessity of obtaining the needed 
supplies by a more speedy method than awaiting its 
cultivation was apparent. In the mean time, Mr. 
William Wheelwright, a citizen of the United States, 
since called "The Apostle of Progress for South 
America," had succeeded in establishing a line of 
steamships on the west coast, and was eager to 
begin the execution of another great thought that 
had taken possession of him. That thought was 
nothing less than to bind the Pacific to the Atlantic 
by an iron band across the Andes from Valparaiso 
to the head of ocean steam navigation on the Parana. 
The war-impoverished, but recently consolidated 
Argentine Republic was eager to realize its " true 
course of development," and stood ready to give 
favorable terms to any enterprise tending to such a 
result. Mr. Wheelwright's railroad scheme prom- 
ised to do this. At the same time it would greatly 
shorten the distance from England to India and 
Australia, where supplies of cotton, jute, and wool 
were at command. The charter of the Argentine 
Central Railroad Company was the result of these 
three desires : that of the new Republic for develop- 
ment, of English manufacturers for transportation 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



199 



facilities, and of the man of practical engineering 
for the realization of his hobby. 

Under the impulse given by Mr, Wheelwright the 
Chilian end of the road was at once begun at Val- 
paraiso, and has been in operation for several years 
as far as Los Andes, a distance of one hundred 
miles. The survey has been completed to the 
Argentine boundary. 

On the Argentine side, Rosario was chosen as the 
Parana River terminus. As the first step toward the 
realization of the desired object, a concession for the 
Central Argentine Railroad from Rosario to Cor- 
doba, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, was 
granted to an English company, whose headquarters 
is in London. The survey for this road was made 
by Mr. Allen Campbell, an engineer from the United 
States. By the terms of the original charter, the 
Argentine Government granted to this company a 
tract of land half a league wide on each side of the 
track, on condition that the road should be in oper- 
ation to Cordoba within a specified time. When it 
became evident that the road would not be com- 
pleted by the time specified (if, indeed, it would be 
begun), the government renewed the charter and in- 
creased the grant of land to a league in width on each 
side of the track. It also granted a freedom from 



200 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

taxation for a period of forty years, the privilege of 
introducing all railroad material and supplies free of 
duty, and guaranteed seven per cent, interest on the 
investment; in consideration of these privileges 
government officials and troops and the mails to 
be carried free. In 1863 the time was again ex- 
tended, and all privileges previously granted were 
reaffirmed. 

On the 20th day of May, 1863, General Mitre, 
then President of the Republic, turned the first sod 
of the first railroad in the La Plata Valley at Ro- 
sario, with all the formalities inseparable in the 
minds of his constituents from the proper inau- 
guration of a great national enterprise. The work 
continued seven years, and in May, 1870, the road 
was opened to traffic through to Cordoba. Only 
one hundred and twenty miles of the Central Argen- 
tine Railroad — from Rosario to Villa Maria^con- 
stitutes a part of the transandine route, and the 
Argentine Government proposed to borrow money 
and carry on the work itself from this point. The 
cost of construction was estimated at twenty-five 
thousand dollars per mile to the base of the Andes, 
and fifty thousand dollars per mile thence to the 
Chilian boundary. 

In 1873 the national government finished the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 20I 

first section of the Transandine Railway, a distance 
of eighty-two miles, from Villa Mercedes to Rio 
Quarto. Before the further prosecution of the en- 
terprise could be carried into execution there came 
one of those parenthetic pauses so familiar to those 
attempting progressive piovements in South Amer- 
ican countries, and Mr. Wheelwright turned his 
attention to the opening up of the region about the 
city of Buenos Ayres with railroads. In this way 
his last years were employed, and he died without 
seeing his great scheme realized. 

In 1875 the second section, from Rio Quarto to 
Villa Mercedes, a distance of seventy-six miles, was 
opened to traffic, and five years later an additional 
fifty-nine miles completed the road to the city of 
San Luis. In 1883 seventy-five miles more were 
finished, and La Paz became for the time being the 
terminus. On the nth of April, 1885, another sec- 
tion of eighty miles was completed, from La Paz to 
the city of Mendoza. At the same time a branch 
from Mendoza to San Juan — one hundred miles — was 
opened. The completion of the road to the most 
western provincial capital on the route was cele- 
brated with great rejoicings, in which President 
Roca and his cabinet, foreign diplomatic corps, and 
a large number of other invited guests participated. 



203 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

The festivities in Mendoza continued nearly two 
weeks. The entire cost to the government of the 
four hundred and seventy-two miles now in opera- 
tion has been ;^ 13,000,000; a sum exceeding the 
original estimate per mile by ;^2330.50. The gauge 
is five and a half feet. .From Mendoza to the 
Chilian boundary, through the Uspallata Pass, is 
one hundred and forty miles. The expectation is 
that the iron steed, controlled by the national gov- 
ernment, will have climbed the steep mountain pass 
before the middle of July, 1887, at nearly double 
the elevation of the Central Pacific line across the 
Rocky Mountains. 

At Cordoba, a narrow-gauge road — The Northern 
Central Argentine — connects with the Central, and 
extends northward through the Argentine high- 
lands to Salta, a distance of three hundred and forty 
miles, and is being continued through the Province 
of Jujui. The portion to the capital of the Prov- 
ince is almost completed. This road, it is expected, 
will be opened to the Bolivian frontier with all possi- 
ble despatch. In 1883 a bill was introduced in the 
Congress of Bolivia, asking for the charter of a 
railroad from La Paz, the Bolivian capital, to con- 
nect with the Northern Central Argentine Railroad 
at the Bolivian boundary. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



203 



The Buenos Ayres and Andine Railway, to con- 
nect the city of Buenos Ayres with the Transandine 
Railway at Villa Mercedes, is in operation to Cha- 
cabuco, a distance of one hundred and thirty miles, 
and it is being pushed forward to rapid completion. 
In March, 1884, the Great Southern Railway was 
completed, which connects the city of Buenos Ayres 
with the port of Bahia Blanca. 

On the 1st of May, 1885, there were nearly three 
thousand miles of railroad in operation in the Re- 
public, and work was being carried forward on ten 
lines then in construction, on which 14,500 men 
were employed. Surveys have been made for 
several other lines, and concessions granted and 
proposed for still others. 

Among the latter is the one from Bahia Blanca 
across the A^ndes by way of the Bariloche Pass to 
the Pacific coast. With the concession for this 
railroad a guaranty of seven per cent, is asked from 
government. The discovery of this pass was one 
of the incidental results of the negotiations relating 
to the settlement of the Chilian boundary question. 
There was an old tradition that before the arrival 
of the white man as many as twenty passes of the 
Andes which are now possessed by these two re- 
publics were frequented by the Indians. But only 



204 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

three have been known to their successors that 
are practically accessible. This discovery gives a 
shadow of reliability to the old tradition. At this 
point the mountains do not reach nearly so high 
an altitude as at the passes heretofore known. 
More frequent rains take the place of snow, the 
pass may be easily reached from the route leading 
westward from Bahia Blanca near Lake Nahuel 
Huapi, and the continent is here only about half 
as wide as at the Central Transandine route. A rail- 
road of a little more than seven hundred miles' 
length would unite the two oceans and cut short the 
tedious passage of Cape Horn, at the same time 
that it would open up a rich tract of country. 

The beds of Argentine railroads are prepared 
and the tracks laid in English style, with the rails 
raised above the ties in iron clamps. The railroad 
irons are made in England. The passenger cars 
are generally of North American type, and a por- 
tion of them are made in the United States. In 
1882 the government purchased seven railroad loco- 
motives from an American firm, and liked them so 
well that a large number have since been ordered. 
Formerly Belgium and Great Britain had supplied 
all that had been used. 

While the government, has been pushing forward 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



205 



its great railroad enterprises it has not been un- 
mindful of the natural routes of traffic furnished 
by its great rivers. Ten years ago the highest 
Argentine authority declared, " We have no mer- 
chant navy, unless that name be given to a few- 
hundred barges, lighters, and schooners which, with 
Italian and Russian crews, ply on our rivers and 
carry the Argentine flag just as they might carry 
the Turkish." It is still true that the carrying 
trade on its rivers depends on foreign bottoms, 
but it has increased so rapidly that the expression 
"a few hundred" is no longer applicable. In 1881 
the total freights carried on the Uruguay, Parana, 
and Paraguay Rivers amounted to 3,628,804 tons;* 
and in 1882 no less than 6002 steamers and 15,725 
sailing vessels in the coasting and river trade en- 
tered the port of Buenos Ayres alone, with an aggre- 
gate tonnage of 1,829,933 tons. That port then had 
24 per cent, of the river commerce, Rosario 17 
per cent., and San Nicholas 13 percent. In 1883, 
Buenos Ayres had 28 per cent. In the quadrennium 
from 1880 to 1883, inclusive, the steam navigation 
of the rivers increased and the sailing vessels de- 



* This was 1,652,711 tons more than the entire foreign com- 
merce of that year. 

18 



2o6 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

creased 12 per cent. In the latter year 74 per 
cent, of all the navigation on the rivers was by- 
steam. Of the various crafts engaged in the river 
trade, 57 per cent, carried the Argentine, 3 per 
cent, the Uruguayan, and 2 per cent, the Paraguayan 
flag, while 24 per cent, sailed under the British and 
9 per cent, under the French colors.* 

As soon as the first train had passed over the 
Central Argentine Railroad, from Rosario to Cor- 

* The disposition of the nation towards internal improvements 
may be seen from the following items of the .special loan author- 
ized by the Congress of 1883: 

Transandine Railway ...... IS3, 600,000 

Railway from Tucuman to Jujui . . . 6,300,000 

Repairs on Tucuman Railway .... 2,000,000 

Railway from Santiago to Frias .... 1,500,000 

Railway from Recreo to Chumbicha . . . 2,100,000 
Purchase of Northwestern Railway station at 

Buenos Ayres 220,000 

Building a port at Rosario 2,000,000 

"Wharf at San Nicholas 120,000 

Wharf at Corrientes 150,000 

Wharf at Concepcion ...... 150,000 

Completion of the Rio Chuela port . . , 1,200,000 

Dredging La Plata at Martin Garcia . . . 1,150,000 

Bridges 250,000 

Erection of light-houses on Atlantic coast . . 1,300,000 

Erection of telegraph lines . . . , . 430,000 

Sinking artesian wells ...... 700,000 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



207 



doba, in May, 1870, the capitalists who had con- 
tributed to that enterprise were legally possessed 
of a strip of territory six miles wide and two hun- 
dred and fifty miles long through the heart of one 
of the best agricultural districts on the globe. In 
1863 these lands were valued at ^750 per square 
league (6768 acres). To create a demand for them 
by establishing settlements as nuclei that would 
induce voluntary immigration, the stockholders of 
the railroad company set themselves about estab- 
lishing such nuclei. One firm, with its headquarters 
in Old Broad Street, London, and a resident agent 
and member in Rosario, undertook to colonize 
900,000 acres with 9000 families. They estimated 
the cost of constructing a temporary house of two 
rooms fifteen feet square at ^125, and of a perma- 
nent house of adobes of the same size at from 
;^I250 to ;^I500. (Present estimates vary little from 
this. A city architect, in contracting to build a good 
dwelling-house, estimates the cost at from ;^6oo to 
j^iooo for each room.) 

In the same or a similar manner various emigra- 
tion companies and agencies were established in 
England. The first colonies were created by selling 
to each colonist on credit eighty acres of land, with 
a mud house on it, a plough, a yoke of oxen, and 



2o8 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

food for one year, and advancing his passage 
money. 

In 1869, Mr. Wheelwright's son-in-law broke up 
several squares of land at Canada de Gomez, eighteen 
miles from Rosario, and tried the experiment of 
sowing wheat. Within ten months he reaped a 
crop that almost paid the entire outlay, including 
the cost of the land. This fact, well advertised, 
added new momentum to the immigration impulse, 
and three colonies were established the next year. 
Many of the colonists repaid the entire advance 
made to them and paid for their eighty acres of land 
within two years, and few of them had any indebt- 
edness remaining therefor after the third crop had 
been sold. Before the railroad was finished to Cor- 
doba the railroad lands had increased in value from 
;g750 to ;!8i500 per square league, and since that 
time all lands in their vicinity have steadily ad- 
vanced in price. 

In the mean time the Provincial Government of 
Santa Fe was equally anxious to induce immigra- 
tion and agricultural colonization, and having no 
funds available, applied to the Federal Government 
for a guarantee of a million dollars for this purpose. 
But the Federal Government was in the same con- 
dition as the Provincial, and the subject had to be 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 2O9 

left, for the time being, to private companies who 
would undertake the colonization of certain dis- 
tricts as a speculation, regarding the lands them- 
selves as security for the funds invested. 

One of the first acts of the reconstructed govern- 
ment had been to invite immigration, and for several 
years emigration agents had been supported by it, 
to travel through Europe and try to turn the tide 
of emigration towards the La Plata. But the result 
had not been satisfactory. Ninety per cent, of all 
immigrants remained in the city of Buenos Ayres, 
until, by the high prices there paid for labor, they 
had secured a satisfying portion, and then returned 
to their own land. Nor did the remaining ten per 
cent, devote themselves to agriculture. To coun- 
teract this evil, an immigration bureau was estab- 
lished in the city of Buenos Ayres, and an immi- 
grants' hotel opened, at which all arrivals were 
supplied with free board and lodging for ten days, — 
should they see fit to remain so long, — and then 
forwarded to their chosen destination by govern- 
ment conveyance, free of cost. While they re- 
mained in the city it was the duty of the agent of 
the bureau to answer without charge all inquiries 
relating to public lands, and to place before them 

every facility for gaining information on all points 
o 18* 



210 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



relating thereto, thus enabHng them to make an 
intelligent and voluntary choice of location. But 
still the results were not all that had been hoped. 
Time and sacrifice were needed to counteract the 
unfavorable impression that had gone abroad with 
regard to the lawlessness of the country. 

In 1870 the Province of Santa Fe put one thou- 
sand square leagues of land for sale at the rate of 
eighty acres for ;^I50, to be paid within five years. 
A company was also chartered for the Gran Chaco 
Railroad to connect the bank of the Parana River 
at the mouth of the Paraguay, opposite to the city 
of Corrientes, with the city of Santiago, and thence 
with Copiapo, Chili, by way of the Tingonasta Pass. 
This company also proposed to offer its lands to 
immigration. The road has not been built, but 
the provincial lands accessible from the rivers are 
being dotted with farmsteads. 

In 1875, President Sarmiento visited* the colonies 
of Santa Fe and Corrientes, and described their 
prosperity in such glowing terms that, in 1876, 



* During this visit of President Sarmiento to the English colony, 
established at the point in Santa F6 that had long been known as 
Frele Muerte, he changed the name to Bellville, in honor of the 
first colonist, saying, " That is the custom in the United States." 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 211 

Congress passed the " Homestead Law," which 
had been under discussion in that body for several 
years. 

By this law the government offered to each of 
the first one hundred families who settle on any of 
the public lands surveyed for colonization a gift of 
one hundred hectacres of land (nearly equal to two 
hundred and fifty acres), and to sell public land to 
subsequent settlers at ^2 gold per hectacre, payable, 
without interest, in ten annual payments, the first 
payment to be made three years after the purchase 
of the land. It further authorizes the advance of 
money to build a house and purchase family sup- 
plies for one year; working and breeding cattle, with 
feed for them for a year; farming implements and 
seed, "and, in general, of all that a family would 
require for a year under such circumstances ;" the 
whole loan not to exceed ^lOOO gold, and pay- 
able, without interest, in five annual instalments, 
commencing after the end of the first year. Colo- 
nists are exempt from military duty and are free 
from all taxes for ten years. Foreigners not col- 
onists pay a tax of ^4 on every ^1000 capital in- 
vested. After the colony is six years old the gov- 
ernment pays a premium of ;^io per thousand for 
trees at least two years old, that have been planted 



212 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

by the colonists. To encourage naturalization the 
Congress of 1885 so amended the " Homestead 
Law" as to give fifteen hundred acres to every 
bona fide naturalized settler on the public lands, 
provided he plant two hundred trees and bring 
twenty-four acres under cultivation within five years. 

In 1882, twelve years after the completion of the 
Central Argentine Railroad, there were sixty-eight 
agricultural colonies in Santa Fe, with an aggregate 
population of 55,143, and about 900,000 acres in 
cultivation; and, instead of importing flour for a 
handful of foreigners engaged in speculation, it ex- 
ported a million bushels of wheat from the harvest 
of that year. With the introduction into the La 
Plata valley of wheat-growing agriculturists, sulky 
reapers, improved threshers, grain elevators, and 
European exportation are inseparably linked. 

No agricultural implements are yet manufactured 
in the Republic. American, British, Belgian, and 
German manufacturers supply them in great variety. 
The most popular self-binding reapers are the 
"Wood," "Reliance," " Deering," and " McCor- 
mick," from the United States, and the " Hornsby," 
from England. Horse-power for threshing-ma- 
chines is generally preferred on account of the 
scarcity of fuel, the coal for engines being brought 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 213 

from England. Notwithstanding this scarcity of 
fuel, engines are being introduced for all kinds of 
work, and are meeting with favor, and steam-thresh- 
ers are by no means unknown. 

The first grain elevator in the La Plata basin was 
built at Rosario, on the bank of the Parana, one mile 
above the station of the Central Argentine Rail- 
road, and opened for the reception of the wheat 
crop of 1882, by a citizen of the United States, who 
had already found Santa Fe investments lucrative. 
It was opened by a banquet at which President 
Roca presided, and the speeches of the day, as well 
as voluminous editorial comments in the several 
newspapers, characterized it as the beginning of 
another enterprise that signalizes the rapid advance 
and future greatness of the Argentine nation. Hun- 
dreds of flags adorned the building and fluttered 
from cords reaching far out in all directions, and 
from the ships lying in the river. The grain drops 
from the shoots of the elevator into the hold of the 
vessel that conveys it to Europe at a cost of about 
one dollar per ton. 

The erection of the grain elevator in Rosario was 
preceded by the introduction of a first-class steam 
flouring mill at Carcafial, thirty miles from Rosario 
on the Central Argentine Railroad, Its superiority 



214 



LA PLATA COUNTIES 



over native mills was soon proved by the demand 
for its flour. But this superiority of the flour over 
that made in native mills is perhaps as much to 
be attributed to the North American mode of thresh- 
ing as of grinding the wheat. The native mode 
of threshing, which has been practised throughout 
Spanish and Portuguese America for the past three 
hundred years, wherever there has been grain to 
thresh, is closely allied to that practised by the 
patriarchs in the infancy of the Hebrew nation. 
The hcra is such a circular enclosure of hard-beaten 
earth as that from which Boaz probably measured 
barley into the mantle of the beautiful Moabitess. 
A thick layer of unthreshed grain is spread in this 
enclosure, and from fifteen to twenty horses or oxen 
turned in and driven rapidly around by the lash 
of a man on horseback. The grittiness of cakes 
made from grain thus threshed is a modern ob- 
jection to the ancient method. 

Santa Fe takes the lead of all the other Provinces 
in the development of its agricultural resources. 
Its soil is a rich vegetable loam, averaging from 
three to five feet in depth, over a substratum of 
fertile clay, in some places nearly a hundred feet 
deep. Wheat-growers with whom I conversed re- 
garded thirteen bushels per acre as a poor yield, 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 21$ 

thirty bushels as a good, and twenty-five bushels 
per acre as an average yield. Official returns give 
sixteen bushels as the average yield per acre for 
the Santa Fe colonies. With the present popu- 
lation of the earth, and means of intercommuni- 
cation, Argentine wheat may keep that of our 
prairies at prices within the reach of European 
laborers for some years to come. 

It has been abundantly demonstrated that in soil 
and climate the entire " Granary of the Republic," 
and the Province of Santa Fe pre-eminently, is 
equally adapted to other branches of agriculture. 
It is claimed that Indian corn gives an average yield 
of one hundred bushels to the acre, for the planting 
of which a little more than half a peck of seed is 
allowed. The area planted in 1883 was nearly 
150,000 acres. 

Santa Fe also takes the lead in peanut culture. 
There is a good home and 'foreign demand for this 
nut for the manufacture of olive oil. It forms the 
chief part of the cargo of some lines of ships sail- 
ing from the La Plata to Mediterranean ports. 
Flour is also made from the peanut, which, mixed 
in equal proportion with wheat flour, makes a pal- 
atable and nutritious bread. 

The first experiment in flax culture was made by 



2i6 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

an Englishman in the Bellville colony of Santa Fe 
in 1875, and 40,000 tons of flax were exported in 
1882. The quality was said to be equal to that of 
Irish flax. 

Agriculture necessitates fencing. To meet this 
necessity, fencing wire is imported in large quanti- 
ties. The import into the Argentine Republic of this 
one article in 1882 amounted to $\,\\2,2A,^. Of that 
amount ^5545 worth went from the United States, 
Previous to that year not a pound had been pur- 
chased from American manufacturers. Posts for 
fencing purposes are obtained from the algarroba, 
a tree allied to the honey locust, which is abundant 
in the monte formatio)i, or clumps of stunted trees 
that occasionally dot the prairies and that line the 
rivers. Its wood is almost imperishable under 
water. It is, therefore, invaluable to the colonists. 

Gratified by the result of the operations of the 
Homestead Law, the National Congress went a step 
further, and passed a bill providing that under cer- 
tain circumstances a free passage might be given 
from Europe to the port of Buenos Ayres. In 1883, 
135 persons received the benefit of this law. In 
that year 63,242 immigrants arrived, of whom 
eighty-one per cent, were Italians, and four per 
cent, each of Spaniards, French, Germans, and Swiss. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



217 



Sixty-four per cent, were agriculturists ; of these, 
8156 went to the farming lands of Buenos Ayres 
and 6271 to those of Santa Fe. In the first six 
months of 1884 the arrivals had amounted to 34,798, 
when the port was closed against immigration from 
the cholera-infected parts of Europe. 

There are many points of resemblance between 
the Province of Santa Fe and the State of Illinois 
in soil and general configuration, but it lies eight 
degrees nearer to the equator. The mean tempera- 
ture at Rosario in 1880 was 63° Fahrenheit, the 
greatest extreme of cold 27° Fahrenheit, and the 
greatest extreme of heat 101.7° Fahrenheit. The 
heat increases in going northward at about the rate 
of one-half degree of the thermometer for each 
degree of latitude. The southern part of the Prov- 
ince is wholly prairie. A few leagues north of the 
mouth of the Carcanal River the heavy timber growth 
that characterizes the plains of subtropical South 
America makes its appearance along the Parana 
River, and spreads to the west as it continues still 
northward. In the northern part of the Province 
woodland alternates with prairie. 

The provincial capital, the city of Santa Fe, is in 

the northern part of the Province at the head of 

ocean bark navigation on the Parana, between 
K 19 



2i8 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

latitude 29° and 30°. It is the terminus of the 
Buenos Ayres and Santa Fe line of daily mail 
packets. Its daily steamers up and down stream 
pass each other at Rosario. The journey from 
Rosario to Santa Fe is pleasantly diversified with 
calm river scenery and gorgeous sunsets. At the 
mouth of the Carcanal, ten miles above Rosario, the 
first Spanish settlement in the La Plata was founded 
by Sebastian Cabot, and named Espiritu Santo. 
The remains of the earthworks of the old fort could 
still be traced in 1882, when an English company 
acquired possession of the historic site for the pur- 
pose of erecting a meat-canning factory, and thus 
inaugurate another new industry. 

From time out of mind charcoal has been the 
chief export of the capital. Its location on the 
border of the vast inland forest gives to its laborers 
a peculiarly favorable opportunity of meriting the 
compliment bestowed by the Greek poet on those 
who supplied fuel prepared in the same way to the 
matrons of Athens, — that they brought the wood 
into the city, but left the abominable smoke in the 
country. This fuel without the smoke is hawked 
about the cities of the La Plata in sacks carried on 
the back of horses or mules, just as it was in 
Greece, and is the supply for the fugon. In Ro- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 219 

sario, Buenos Ayres, and Montevideo it sells for 
about forty cents per bushel. 

As its name indicates, the capital of Santa Fe is 
an old, sacred city. It is impossible to ignore the 
impression of its antiquity. Its many large shade- 
trees impart a sense of seclusion and repose un- 
known in newer and busier towns. Around the 
plaza, in true old colonial style, are grouped the 
cathedral, jail, Government House, and Executive 
Mansion. In 183 1 this city was the meeting-place 
of the representatives of the Provinces of Buenos 
Ayres, Santa Fe, Entre Rios, and Corrientes, that 
adopted the Republican Code and for a while with- 
stood the usurping arm of Rosas. After his ex- 
pulsion it again had the honor of entertaining the 
Congress that re-enacted substantially the same 
declaration of Republicanism. 



220 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE ARGENTINE MESOPOTAMIA. 

The portion of the Argentine Republic lying be- 
tween the Uruguay and Parana Rivers, and com- 
prising the Provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes, 
and the Territory of Misiones, is known familiarly 
as the Mesopotamia, As a whole, it is extremely 
fertile and watered by numerous running streams. 
Except in parts subject to overflow, — and such sec- 
tions are small in proportion to the whole, — the 
climate is salubrious. There is rarely any frost. 
Forests of excellent timber alternate with prairie, 
and the many navigable streams offer a natural out- 
let for marketable produce. 

No Province of the Republic is better adapted to 
agriculture than Entre Rios. The surface is undu- 
lating, and the quality of the soil could not be sur- 
passed. For half a century after the cessation of 
Spanish rule its position made it the refuge of revo- 
lutionary bands from the adjoining Provinces and 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 221 

Uruguay. The Gaucho element constitutes the 
larger part of its population. This statement is of 
itself a sufficient declaration of the discouragement 
to all kinds of husbandry. The Provincial Govern- 
ment has never encouraged immigration, neither has 
there been in the Province any great railroad 
scheme to induce the investment of foreign capital 
or prompt the presentation of offers to attract immi- 
gration. Notwithstanding all this the Province has 
attracted to itself a spontaneous immigration of 
agriculturists, and ranks next after Santa Fe in the 
number of its colonies, having twenty-five, with 
132,930 acres in cultivation. In 1883, when the 
entire population of the Province was estimated at 
188,000, the colonists numbered 9905, and the next 
year the number was increased by 3134. The Entre 
Rios colonists divide their attention about equally 
between agriculture — which with them means pre- 
eminently wheat growing — and grazing. Except in 
these colonies grazing is the sole industry, and man- 
dioca for local consumption the most important 
crop. There are as yet but a few miles of railroad 
in the Province, and inland traffic is principally car- 
ried on by means of bullock-carts, supplemented 
by the eighteen stage-coach lines, which carry the 

mails on a subsidy from the National Government. 
19* 



222 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

Villa Concepcion, on the Uruguay River, is the 
provincial capital. Until the federalization of the 
old and the choosing of the new capital for Buenos 
Ayres this was the only exception to the rule that 
provincial capitals in the Argentine Republic bear 
the same name as the Provinces. Save Santa Fe, 
it was also the only exception to the rule that the 
capital is the most important city and the commer- 
cial emporium of the Province. This honor is about 
equally divided between the two cities, — Gualaguay- 
chu, on the Uruguay, and Parana, on the Parana 
River. In 1883 the foreign commerce of the former 
amounted to ^565,063, of which the excess of 
imports over exports was $y2yi. In the same 
year the foreign commerce of the city of Parana 
amounted to ^451,804; but while its exports were 
valued only at ;^74,289, its imports were $2)77, S'^^- 
By this it would appear that while Gualaguaychu, as 
the depot for hides and other products of the estan- 
cias, ranks first in the matter of exports, Parana 
bears off the palm as an importer of foreign goods. 
This is in part accounted for by the fact that the 
agricultural colonies are mostly situated along the 
course of the Parana River, and require the impor- 
tation of building and fencing material, agricultural 
implements and the like, while as yet the returns are 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 223 

not commensurate with the outlay for improve- 
ments, and their exports are largely prospective, and 
partly by remembering that there is a larger pro- 
portion of refined citizens in Parana and its vicinity 
than in the lower part of the Province, by whom 
foreign elegancies and luxuries are in demand. The 
city of Parana is on the east bank of the Parana 
River, fifteen miles below the city of Santa Fe, fol- 
lowing the windings of the river, but only half that 
distance in a straight line. It was founded by refu- 
gees driven from Santa Fe by raids of the Chaco 
Indians. The river between the two cities is a 
maze of small islands, a miniature archipelago. 
Small sail-boats are towed by horses through some 
of the channels between these islands, while the 
main channel admits the passage of ocean barks. 

Parana was the capital of the Argentine Confed- 
eration from March 24, 1854, till May 25, 1862, 
when the Province of Buenos Ayres was added to 
the league and its capital tendered for the provis- 
ional Federal capital. Like Rosario, Parana nar- 
rowly escaped the honor of becoming the permanent 
Federal capital. Its port is at the mouth of a small 
stream emptying into the Parana River. A village 
of a single street is clustered on a narrow strip of 
level ground but little above high- water mark. 



224 



LA PLATA COUNTRLES 



Behind this is a high ridge covered with a tangled 
growth of trees and vines, through which are caught 
glimpses of rocks and the debris of kilns that con- 
vert ancient deposits of oyster-shells into building 
lime. At the end of the village, opposite to the 
port, the hill closes to the river, and the street 
climbs up with many romantic windings to connect 
it with the city of Parana, two miles away. The 
open car creaks and groans itself along the while it 
regales its passengers with feasts of beauty such as 
street-car tracks are not accustomed to indulge in. 

There is nothing remarkable about the town 
itself. Being the seat of a bishopric, there are 
several reasonably good religious houses, and an 
unfinished monastic pile looms against the sky. 
There is the usual cathedral, with its cluster of 
musty memories and a tower clock that until re- 
cently had bags of sand for weights, and so accom- 
modated the length of its moments to the state of 
the atmosphere. An English resident referred to 
the circumstance as an evidence of the progressive 
spirit of cathedral culture. The normal school is a 
modern rival. The city has a population of about 
twelve thousand. The principal business is con- 
nected with the import trade, and long caravans of 
bullock-carts starting for the interior of the Province 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 22$ 

give to the little city a continual appearance of busi- 
ness activity, carried on with due moderation. 

One bright Christmas morning found me domi- 
ciled in this commercial emporium at the Hotel 
Frances, which accommodates travellers at two dol- 
lars per day. Before sunrise a livery carriage of 
English make, drawn by a span of grays, was at the 
door, and, with three others, I was off for " a glo- 
rious Christmas ride," 

True, the steeds were somewhat weatherworn, 
and portions of the epidermis had been abraded 
from their shoulders and backs ; neither were their 
joints as supple as in colthood. Portions of the 
cutis vera had also been abraded from the cushions 
and lining of the carriage, and it creaked rheumati- 
cally. But both did their best to make a ten-dollar 
amble over the smooth prairie, and what reasonable 
beings could ask for more ? There was a crisp fresh- 
ness in the air and a crisp sparkle in the dewdrops, 
with no suggestion of Jack Frost. The tierra-tierra 
went crouching in the grass or swept the low air 
with its broad wings. Little chirping warblers and 
myriad insect life filled the air with a low, glad 
harmony. Parrots and paroquets chattered in the 
trees. All nature exhaled the angel's song, " Peace 
on earth." The thousands of sheep grazing on every 
P 



226 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

side felt that peace unbroken, and scarce raised their 
heads as we rolled past. Our course at first wound 
along the bluff on which the city stands. Below 
lay the clear, broad, blue river with its pretty islands. 
Steamers ploughed the water, streaking the blue 
with long clouds of black smoke and gray steam. 
Here and there were the tall masts of sea-going 
brigs and sloops, and the wavelets were flecked with 
the bunting of small crafts. On the mainland, lovely 
glades of freshest verdure. Again, a glimpse of 
river, islands, groves, and glades, and then the 
horizon shuts in only the broad stretch of rolling 
prairie, with feeding flocks and here and there the 
mud hut of an Italian immigrant. We pass a 
wagon, sans a bed, on its way to town with a hila- 
rious company of men and women, whose bare feet 
dangle midway to the ground, and farther on a 
pair of stalwart Italian peasant women providently 
carrying their shoes on their arms. The heat is 
growing oppressive, when the " California," with the 
" stars and stripes" floating over it, comes in view, 
and with the shade of the wide-spreading ombu 
tree at its gate the morning ride is ended. 

Christmas day in a foreign land ! and Christmas 
day with the mercury in the nineties ! How it an- 
tagonizes cherished memories and sets at naught 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



227 



all sense of propriety ! But the stars come out at 
its close as peacefully as if the earth were wrapped 
in its spotless winding-sheet. 

In the United States, Christmas is one day in 
length, and suggests sleigh-rides, presents, and gen- 
eral good cheer. In the La . Plata countries it is 
twelve days long and suggests the pcscbre, or 
manger. In the homes of wealth, money without 
stint is lavished on the pesebres, and the poorest 
regard the securing of one, be it never so simple, 
an object for which to stint their scanty living. The 
windows of business houses are full of them, — not 
merely as advertisements. In one it is a moss- 
grown cave ; in another, a tent in a rocky wilder- 
ness, with the animals from Noah's Ark hovering 
about it, and a gentle nun keeping them at bay. 
In another it is a gorgeous niche, with the " Queen 
of Heaven" rocking the cradle. Again, a Sister 
of Charity sits holding an infant swathed like an 
Egyptian mummy. Step into a santaria (image 
shop) and the clerk will ask, " Have a Jesus ?" 
"Have a Mary?" Unconsciously he has acquired 
a flippant tone. Be the image what it may to his 
customer, to him it is but a bit of merchandise, 

I noticed a pesebre in a private school-room on 
which much care had been expended. The desks 



228 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

on one side of the room had been replaced with a 
raised platform surrounded by circular steps, which 
were covered with bright cambric. On them were 
a variety of toys beyond my powers of description, 
each of which may or may not have had signifi- 
cance. There were .giraffes with movable heads ; 
tiger-cats with a nasal squeak ; groups of nonde- 
script peasants with bundles of unknown cereals, 
and nondescript knights without bundles. There 
were miniature lakes in glass preserve dishes, with 
real fishes swimming in them, and make-believe 
bugs and spiders floating on the water. There were 
monkeys riding on elephants, and couriers galloping 
at full speed through forests made of twigs broken 
from orange, eucalyptus, silver-and-gold, and mag- 
nolia trees. The platform itself was heavily shaded 
with large branches from all available kinds of de- 
ciduous trees and evergreens, mingled with canes, 
maize, grasses, and wheat-stalks. On the platform 
was a canopy, guarded on one side by a mule and 
a camel, with figures under them that might be 
shepherds or banditti. In the background appeared 
the cowl of Joseph, and at the farther edge stood 
Mary, in a white satin robe with tinsel trimmings, 
and wearing a most woe-begone countenance. 
Through a secluded path at one side, the kings 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 229 

of Egypt, Arabia, and Nubia came jogging along, in 
single file, each carrying a roll of spices. Each day 
they are moved a little nearer, till, on January 6, 
their journey ends. Under the canopy lay a wax 
doll, a foot or more in length, clothed also in satin 
and tinsel, and bound around the waist with a gilt 
girdle. On its head were a mass of curls and 
frizzes, among which were twined gilt beads as 
though it were ready for a fancy ball. It lay on a 
crimson velvet cushion, supporting itself on one 
elbow and holding up a string of pearl baubles with 
which it seemed immensely gratified. And was that 
the Saviour of Mankind ? 

On another Christmas occasion I went into a 
brilliantly-lighted cathedral. The kings had nearly 
ended their journey. In front of the high altar, 
and a little to one side, was a grotto where stood a 
mule, a monk, and a nun, looking intently at a baby, 
over which a docile cow was chewing the cud, and 
before which multitudes were represented as kneel- 
ing. Outside the grotto was "The Queen of 
Heaven" and " Mother of God," life size, in a blaze 
of jewels, and the real people were kneeling to her. 

Near the main entrance, on a low pedestal, was a 
glass case in which lay a wax doll, the size of a 
common baby three months old. It also had a 



230 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

mass of curls twined with gilt beads, and was clothed 
in laces and rich embroidery. It kicked out its 
bare foot, baby fashion, and the retiring worshippers 
stooped to kiss the foot through the glass. 

The Province of Corrientes, which lies in the 
great bend of the Parana River, is the most northern 
of the litoral Provinces. The population is of a 
mixed Spanish and Guarani Indian origin, and the 
Guarani is the language spoken. Cattle raising is 
almost the sole occupation of the people throughout 
the Province. But the extreme fertility of its soil, 
its excellent timber inviting to mechanical enter 
prises, its abundant water-courses, and its genial 
climate alike bespeak for it a prosperous future of 
varied industries. The few inhabitants of pure or 
comparatively pure European descent, who retain 
the refinements of their ancestors and speak the 
Spanish language, are mostly found in the city of 
Corrientes, at the mouth of the Paraguay River, 
which is the port of entry for the Province. Its 
foreign commerce for 1883 amounted to ;^2,587,2I3, 
and presented the rather anomalous (for an Argen- 
tine port of entry) circumstance that for every 
dollar's worth of goods imported there were nearly 
fifty dollars' worth exported. 

It is expected that on some auspicious maiiana, 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 23 1 

or pasa inanana, Corrientes will be the eastern 
terminus of a railroad through the Gran Chaco, 
which will connect the upper Parana by way of 
the Tingonasta Pass of the Andes with Copiapo 
in Chili, and thence with the Pacific coast ; and 
that it will be the northwestern terminus of a chain 
of railroads linking together the cities and rivers 
of the Mesopotamia, and through them clasping 
hands with the neighboring Provinces of Brazil 
and the Republic of Uruguay. 

General Urquiza, who, as Governor of Corrientes, 
held the Mesopotamia in subjection to Rosas from 
1845 till 185 1, held his seat of government in this 
capital. When induced by the liberal patriots to 
turn against Rosas, he became the representative 
of the liberating party that overthrew the tyrant, 
and was recognized as the head of the Argentine 
Confederation, with the title of President, until his 
own despotic rule insured his overthrow. 

Misiones* is the smallest of the Argentine ter- 
ritories. It received its name from the Jesuit mis- 
sions, or reductions among the Indians, established 
here in the seventeenth century. The circumstance 
of its having been chosen as the seat of its operations 

* Pronounced Mis-i-o^-nes. 



232 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



by an order whose members never fail to possess 
themselves of the richest portions of the earth, 
is sufficient proof of its abundant natural resources. 
Notwithstanding this, large sections of its magnifi- 
cent forests are absolutely without human inhabi- 
tants, and in 1882 the whole population of the 
territory was estimated at only a little more than 
eight thousand, all of whom, save a few traders, 
are of the mixed Guarani race and speak the 
Guarani language. The National Government then 
undertook the experiment of planting agricultural 
colonies in this eastern outpost of its possessions, 
and sent an exploring party under Captain Hunter 
Davidson, formerly of the United States Navy, to 
ascertain whether it were possible to navigate the 
Parana above the falls of Apipe, with flat-bottomed 
steamers similar to those used on our small rivers. 
The result of this exploration was highly satisfactory. 
Posadas, on the Parana, was made the capital of 
the territory and connected with Corrientes by 
steamer. During the same year it was connected 
by telegraph with the city of Buenos Ayres, and 
preparatory steps taken to connect it with Concordia, 
on the Uruguay River, by railroad. While the 
exploring expedition was still in progress, the 
Congress of 1883 passed a bill relating to the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



233 



national territories, which declared the whole of 
Misiones to be farming lands, provided for its 
survey as such, and to place it immediately in 
the market as public lands, at two dollars per 
square hectacre, payable in five annual instalments, 
the first when the sale is registered. To prevent 
pre-emption by speculators, which would tend to 
defeat the purpose of the legislators, it is provided 
that no individual or company can buy less than 
twenty-five or more than four hundred square 
hectacres in the same section. A distinguished 
German naturalist was employed to make a 
thorough examination of the vegetation of the 
territory and prepare a full report of its timber 
and medicinal and textile plants, and other pro- 
ductions. It is expected that this report will be 
of great value in directing future industries. With 
the establishment of the first colonies the culture 
of the sugar-cane was introduced with such sat- 
isfactory results that its production on a large scale 
is contemplated. It is also believed that the cul- 
tivation of cotton will prove a lucrative employ- 
ment ; and that within a comparatively short period 
the wilderness of Misiones will be transformed to 
a scene of busy, prosperous human life. 

Another, if not the chief, object of the expedition 
20* 



234 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

sent out under Captain Davidson was to verify the 
boundary between Misiones and Brazil, which is 
now the only part of its boundary which has not 
been defined by treaty since the reconstruction of 
the RepubHc. The Iguazu River to its junction 
with the Parana was fixed as the boundary between 
the Spanish and Portuguese possessions by the 
treaty of 1750, to which Ferdinand VI. was a party, 
and has continued to be so regarded by the Argen- 
tine nation. However, questions arose with regard 
to it, and Brazil seemed disposed to claim Misiones. 
In 1884 the adjustment of the question threatened 
an appeal to arms, but calmer thoughts prevailed. 

"Captain Davidson's expedition went up the river 
and found it navigable for light-draught steamers as 
far as the falls of the Iguazu, which had not prob- 
ably been visited by a white man for at least one 
hundred years. He describes them as one of the 
most wonderful sights in nature. Indeed, for mag- 
nificence and extent he knows of nothing equal to 
them in this or any other country. The falls, or 
series of falls, far exceed Niagara, not only in alti- 
tude but in the number and variety of the cascades 
which pour over the precipices for miles around in 
every direction. The body of water, however, is 
considerably less. The dense tropical forest made 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 235 

it almost impossible to take photographs of the 
marvellous panorama ; but by scaling and fixing the 
instrument in the tops of the immense trees a series 
of most remarkable views were obtained." 

In the " History of Brazil," Southey transcribes 
the following description of these wonderful falls, 
given by a traveller who visited them more than a 
century ago, and spent eight days in taking meas- 
urements : 

" This river (Iguazu), which flows tranquilly 
through forests of gigantic trees, preserving in its 
course a uniform breadth of about a mile, takes a 
southern direction some three miles before it reaches 
the fall; its contracted width being four hundred and 
eighty-two fathoms, its depth from twelve to twenty 
feet, and its banks little elevated. As it approaches 
the descent several small islands and many reefs 
and detached rocks on the left-hand side confine its 
channel and direct it a little to the westward. Not 
far below them the waters of the middle channel 
begin their descent. The shallower branch makes 
its way along the eastern bank among reefs and 
rocks, where it falls sometimes in cataracts, some- 
times in sheets, till, being confined on the side of 
the shore, it makes its last descent from a small pro- 
jection two hundred and eighty fathoms from the 



236 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

point where it began. The waters fall first upon a 
shelf of rock jutting about twenty feet out, then 
precipitate themselves into the great basin, which 
is twenty-eight fathoms below the upper level. The 
western branch seems to rest after its broken course 
in a large bay formed by the projecting point of an 
island, then pours itself by a double cataract into 
the great basin. The breadth of this western 
branch is sixty-three fathoms, and from the point 
where its descent begins on this side to its last fall 
is a distance of six hundred and fifty-six. 

"On the fall the water rises during the floods five 
feet, and below it twenty-five. The breadth of the 
channel opposite the island is forty fathoms, and 
sixty-five a league below the fall, to which distance 
the waters still continue to be in a state of agita- 
tion. Enormous trunks of trees are seen floating 
down, or whirled to the edge of the basin, or en- 
tangled among the reefs and broken rocks, or 
caught by the numerous islands which lie in the 
midst of the stream, and some in the very fall itself, 
dividing and subdividing its waters into an infinity 
of channels. From the basin the collected river 
flows, with force which nothing can resist, through 
rocks eighty or one hundred feet in height, of hard 
stone, in some places brown, in others a deep red 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 23/ 

color inclining to purple. No fish, it is said, can 
endure to approach this dreadful place. A thick 
vapor rises ten fathoms high in a clear day, twenty 
at morning when the sky is overcast. This cloud 
is visible from the Parana, and the sound is dis- 
tinctly heard there, a distance of twelve miles in a 
straight line. (Exact situation, 25° 42' 20" south 
latitude, 3° 47' 50" longitude east from Buenos 
Ayres.)" 



LA PLATA COUNTRLES 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE CUYO DISTRICT. 



The three Provinces, Mendoza, San Luis, and San 
Juan, are known as the Cuyo District. The two 
latter were carved from the original Province of 
Mcndoza, which, before the erection of the Vice- 
royalty of Buenos Ayres, was governed as the Cuyo 
Department of Chili. While the new Viceroyalty 
had only the three subdivisions, Buenos Ayres, Tu- 
cuman, and Paraguay, the Cuyo District belonged 
to the first. It was originally settled by Spanish 
colonists from Chili, and an intimate communication 
has always been maintained between their descend- 
ants and those of the mother colony. The herds of 
the Argentine plains are one of the principal sources 
on which Chili depends for food, as the mules bred 
in the upper Provinces are its dependence for moun- 
tain travel. The Cuyo is an agricultural rather than 
a grazing district Even its grazing has an agricul- 
tural basis, and hence differs essentially from that of 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



239 



the pampas. Comparatively few of the one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand cattle and mules that annu- 
ally traverse the Uspallata Valley and climb over 
the Andes to the shambles and marts of Chili have 
been bred in this district. These come from the 
broader prairies to the southeast, those from the 
highlands to the north and northeast, and rest here 
for a few weeks, and are fattened in rich fields of 
lucern before being driven over the mountains. 
These luxuriant fields of lucern are a source of con- 
siderable wealth. Cattle bought by the abctoirs al 
coi'te, at six dollars per head, from the cstanccros of 
the pampas, sell for three times that amount to the 
agents who take them over the mountains after 
having been pastured only two or three months. 
Their journey from Mendoza to Valparaiso requires 
from twelve to fourteen days, and at its conclusion 
the cattle sell for about double the sum paid for 
them in Mendoza. In 1883, Mendoza sent seventy- 
one thousand cattle to Chili, worth one million seven 
hundred thousand dollars. 

The Uspallata Pass is the most accessible door 
through the Andes between Chili and the Argen- 
tine Republic. The Uspallata Valley leads from the 
Pamarillo Mountains in Mendoza to the Andes, at 
an average elevation of five thousand nine hundred 



240 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



feet From this valley several defiles through the 
mountains are accessible ; so that, by the general 
term Uspallata Pass, either of the defiles, La Cum- 
bre, Portillo, Puerta del Inca, and some other local 
terms may be indicated. The highway mostly fre- 
quented by mercantile caravans is known as " Villa 
Vicencis." Travellers make the journey on mule- 
back. From eight to ten days are required from 
the city of Mendoza to Valparaiso. Native ladies 
who cross the Andes ride " clothes-pin fashion," 
and foreign ladies who would feast their eyes on 
their sublime scenery must adopt the same eques- 
trian habit. 

Several low mountain ranges cross portions of 
the Cuyo District, chief of which is that known in 
Mendoza as the Pamarillo, and in San Juan as the 
Tontal Range. Except the low mountain ranges 
and the valleys included between them, the face of 
the country is flat, and the district may be regarded 
as a compromise or intermediate link between the 
pampas and the highlands. The thick, shrubby 
growth of thorny plants that characterizes the eastern 
slope of the Andes for a thousand miles south of 
22° spreads over the plains of the western part of the 
Province of Mendoza ; but native timber of quality 
suited to building and cabinet-work is unknown to 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



241 



the region. Under the stimulus of government 
rewards, poplar, elm, and walnut have been intro- 
duced with satisfactory results. 

The latitude of the district corresponds with that 
of Alabama. The summer is warm, but the winter 
months delightful, the temperature ranging from 
80° to 90° Fahrenheit. Occasionally the zonda is 
scorching. 

By the census report of 18S2, the population of 
the Cuyo District was 266,000, of which Mendoza 
had 99,000 and San Juan 91,000. The Quichua 
language is spoken by the peasantry. 

The agricultural interests of the Cuyo date back 
to a very early period, when the careful husbandry 
of the Indians enabled it to send bread supplies to 
its less favored neighbors. The first wheat exported 
from the La Plata was from Mendoza. The agricul- 
tural implements still used are of the most primitive 
kind. Wooden ploughs prepare the ground for 
planting, and the ripened grain is cut with knives 
and threshed by treading. In many places walls of 
solid masonry are built into hill-sides to protect the 
cultivated portions from being swept away in land- 
slides. Previous to 1868 the people were harassed 
by frequent predatory incursions of plundering 

Indians from the pampas. Since that time the 
L J 21 



242 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



military measures for their defence have proved 
effective, and the agricultural interests have ad- 
vanced accordingly. In 1883, Mendoza had 447,905 
acres of cultivated lands and San Juan 300,000 
acres. Improved lands are valued at from thirty 
dollars per acre upwards. 

The luxurious habits of the early Spanish settlers 
demanded larger quantities of wine than could 
readily be procured from the Old World, and atten- 
tion was turned to its home production. Until 
within a few years the grape was turned into the 
favorite beverage by much the same methods that 
were employed by the Spaniards three hundred 
years ago, but now improved methods are being 
introduced. There are several brands of native 
wines in common use in the cities of the litoral, 
and others which do not bear transportation supply 
a local demand. The cultivation of the grape is now 
one of the most important industries of the Cuyo. 
In 1882, San Juan produced 5,236, 186 gallons, valued 
at ;^ 1,107,275, or twenty-one cents per gallon, and the 
statistical report of 1883 shows that it has 25,000 
acres in grapes. In the latter year 12,158 casks of 
wine were shipped from Mendoza to Buenos Ayres. 
In quality it is compared with the best Burgundy 
wines. Large quantities of raisins, figs, olives, dates. 



, OF SOUTH A ATE RICA. 343 

and other fruits are also prepared for market, and 
the cultivation of sugar-cane is on the increase. In 
1883, San Juan had 12,000 acres of cane, and ex- 
tensive sugar-works were established in different 
parts of the Province. Attention is also given to 
the honey-bee, and Mendoza honey is regarded as 
of superior quality. In one of the first apiaries 
established the record of a single swarm was kept 
for ten years, when it had increased to twenty thou- 
sand swarms. 

Owing to a considerable uncertainty and irregu- 
larity in the amount of the rainfall, the agricultural 
industries have had to contend with great disadvan- 
tages, and irrigation has been resorted to wherever 
streams of water have made it practicable. In 188 1 
the drought was of so long continuation that crops 
were cut short and great suffering ensued. To pre- 
vent, if possible, the recurrence of such a calamity, 
the Federal Government employed a hydraulic 
engineer from Europe to make an experimental test 
in the several Provinces subject to droughts of the 
possibility of gaining a supply of water by sinking 
artesian wells. Machinery capable of reaching to a 
depth of two thousand five hundred feet was pro- 
vided, the experiment to be made in the three Cuyo 
Provinces, also in the Provinces of Catamarca, San- 



244 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



tiago, Rioja, and Cordoba. After nearly two years 
of discouragement, water was first reached at Balde, 
in the Province of San Luis, in September, 1884, at 
a depth of little more than three hundred feet. The 
water rises to a height of two hundred and forty feet. 
The event caused great rejoicing. 

The mineral interests of the Cuyo Provinces are 
of no mean importance. Building stone is abundant. 
Several mountains of chalk exist in San Juan, and 
large beds of the same material underlie various 
parts of the district. The geological formation of 
the southern part of this Province is mostly clay, 
slate, and mica schist. The mountains of San Luis 
abound in gold, silver, copper, and lead. Twenty- 
five years ago, Mr. Richard, the British consul at 
Buenos Ayres, described the mining interest as "at 
once in its infancy and old age." For some time 
thereafter it was marked by neither increasing matu- 
rity nor rejuvenation. Recently renewed and in- 
creasing attention is being directed to the mining 
interests. The richest deposits of the precious 
metals yet discovered in the district are in the 
Pamarillo-Tontal range of mountains. The Tontal 
mines in San Juan are 11,000 feet above sea level. 
Ores taken from them have yielded as high as 400 
ounces of pure silver to the ton, and that taken from 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 245 

the Gualilan mines, at an elevation of 12,200 feet, 
have yielded as high as 96 ounces of gold and 4933 
ounces of silver to the ton. These mines have both 
been worked by English companies. An inferior 
quality of coal was discovered west of the Pamarillo 
Mountains several years ago, but was never utilized 
to any considerable extent, and was thought to be 
unfit for manufacturing purposes. Soon after the 
settlement of the Chilian boundary line, Colonel 
Olascoago, who was in charge of an exploring ex- 
pedition in the Andine regions, discovered an ex- 
tensive coal deposit extending from the Province of 
San Luis to the Andes in a southwesterly direction. 
The samples of coal taken from it are of good 
quality. Government has appointed a commission 
of practical miners to make a thorough examination 
of the region. An abundance of good fuel, easily 
attainable, will work a revolution in more than the 
mining interests of the district. While the country 
was still in a chronic state of revolution, it was 
known that petroleum existed in the Province of 
Mendoza. Two hundred miles west of the old city 
of Mendoza it was " found flowing lazily over the 
surface, discharged through subterranean sources." 
Within the past three years these deposits have 
been rediscovered and others brought to light. 



246 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

One between thirty and forty miles southwest of 
Mendoza city has been granted to an English com- 
pany. The yield is said to be forty per cent, of 
pure kerosene. A large lake of oil covered with a 
cap of asphalt has also been found about forty miles 
north of the city, which by analysis yields about 
forty per cent, of pure oil. 

The Cuyo District is also celebrated for mineral 
and thermal springs, and is yearly acquiring in- 
creasing popularity as a resort for those in search of 
health. 

The western part of the district contains some of 
the most sublime scenery on the globe. At a height 
of from 11,000 to 14,000 feet the Andes separate 
into two distinct ranges of mountains, the western 
one being a little higher than the eastern. Its crest 
line is at an elevation of nearly 20,000 feet. This 
crest forms the true water-shed of the Andes ; the 
streams rising on it break through the eastern range 
to seek the valleys at its base. Between these ranges 
is a valley nearly two hundred miles long, that 
rivals the wonders of the Alps. It is accessible only 
about three or four months during the year. From 
the valley of Hermoso, 15,000 feet above the sea, 
rises the volcano Aconcagua, to the height of 
22,867 fs^^ the highest known point on the Amer- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



247 



ican continent* Its sides are abrupt, presenting faces 
of bare rock so nearly perpendicular that for a belt 
nearly two thousand feet in depth the snow cannot 
lie on them, giving the effect of a black girdle. 
The form of the mountains and valleys of the region 
is not favorable to the formation of glaciers, and 
until recently it was not known that any exist ; but 
during his explorations in behalf of the Argentine 
Government, in the spring of 1883, Dr. Giissfeldt 
had the honor of discovering a beautiful ice stream 
in the valley, called Cajon de los Ciprescs, which he 
named the Ada Glacier. He also found crevasses 
filled with fragments of broken glaciers. In the 
bottom of the valleys ice figures are encountered, 
shaped by wind and sun into human-like forms 
which the Indians call penitcntes (pilgrims). 

The city of Mendoza is beautifully located on the 
eastern slope of the Pamarillos. In the clear atmos- 
phere the Andean peak of Tupungato (which is 
easily seen at a distance of one hundred and fifty 

* The famous Aconcagua goat adds the treasure of its skin to the 
many sources of industrial wealth in the highlands. It is not 
unknown to North American commerce. The skin rivals that of 
the Angora goat in texture and durability, and takes dye better. 
The Angora goat has also been successfully introduced in these 
Provinces. 



248 



LA PLATA COUNTRLES 



miles from its base) stands out boldly against the 
deep blue of the sky. In 1861 the city was de- 
stroyed by earthquake, and the sufferings of its 
people excited compassion wherever the tidings 
were carried. Speedy relief was sent from Europe 
and the United States. The city was restored at a 
little distance from the old site, and schools and 
hospitals were built from the surplus of the contri- 
butions after the most pressing wants of the people 
had been relieved. The surrounding country is 
irrigated from the Mendoza River, and little canals 
of running water, obtained from the same source, 
border the streets of the city and impart a delightful 
freshness to the atmosphere. 

The three provincial capitals, now bound together 
by iron bands and clasped by electric wires, are the 
only cities in the district ; but smaller towns already 
mark the course of the railroads, and villages begin 
to dot the country at more frequent intervals. 

From among its illustrious sons this district has 
had the honor of giving San Martin to the cause of 
South American independence and Sarmiento to 
the cause of Argentine liberty and national develop- 
ment. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



249 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE CENTRAL PROVINCES. 

The two distinct physical features of the Repub- 
lic, prairie and mountains, meet and blend in the 
Province of Cordoba. The eastern portion is a 
part of the great diluvial basin sloping gently 
towards the Parana. In the western part are iso- 
lated mountain ranges of oval outline and mod- 
erate elevation. There is nothing abrupt in the 
change from the one to the other. Two broad 
steps, so to speak, lead up from the lower plains 
to the Cordobese Sien'as, as though the receding 
ocean had lingered long at their base, loath to 
unclasp its arms from its little one, the last of 
the great family of mountains that had risen in 
sublimity from its bosom ; then going a little 
farther, had loitered and cast back lingering glances 
of loving farewell. The lower of these plateaus, 
or shores of the ancient sea, is admirably adapted 
to agriculture. The higher one, called the altos, 



250 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



is considered better adapted for grazing. As the 
altos approach the sierras the soil becomes gravelly 
and distinctly granitic, and the prairie vegetation 
gives place to a heavier spontaneous growth. The 
base of the sierras are clothed with rich grass, and 
their gently-rounded outlines crowned with magnif- 
icent forests of palm and other subtropical trees. 
Hidden within them is a wealth of building stone 
of the best quality, among which are rich deposits 
of white, blue, pink, green, and variegated marble, 
vying in quality with that from the finest quarries 
of Italy. In them, also, begin those rich metal- 
liferous stores that characterize the Argentine and 
Bolivian highlands. 

It would be difficult to imagine a more delightful 
climate than that of Cordoba. The mercury never 
falls below 36°, and rarely rises above 100° Fah- 
renheit. In 1882 the greatest extreme of cold 
known at the capital was 44° F., and the greatest 
extreme of heat 101° F., while the mean tempera- 
ture for the year was 61° F. The most luscious 
fruits grow spontaneously, or reward the simplest 
human efforts. 

As in other parts of the pampas, raising cattle, 
sheep, and mules was the almost exclusive interest 
in the eastern and southern part of the Province 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



251 



previous to the introduction of the railroad. The 
cattle and sheep were exported through Rosario 
and Buenos Ayres, and the mules not needed for 
the caravan trade went over the mountains to Chili. 
Since the introduction of the railroad, the agricul- 
tural colonies are crowding across the Santa Fe 
border. In the sierras, mining has naturally at- 
tracted attention. In the sections where neither 
cattle raising nor mining has absorbed the attention, 
a variety of manual employments have been car- 
ried to a considerable degree of excellence. Of 
these, the arts of dressing goat-skins, of tanning 
leather, and of manufacturing articles of leather 
deservedly rank among those of greatest import- 
ance. The Cordobese exhibit of these articles at 
the Continental Exposition at Buenos Ayres in 1882 
was a conspicuous feature of that creditable display, 
and an added proof that the Province merits the pre- 
cedence universally accorded to it. 

Industry is a recognized characteristic of Cor- 
doban women. The various feminine employments 
known to the country have been carried to the 
highest perfection by them. Cordobese pottery, 
rugs, blankets, laces, and embroidery find their way 
into the cities of the coast and are favorably known 
in the neighboring Provinces. It is doubtful if the 



252 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

embroideries of any land can exceed in beauty those 
wrought by the patient fingers of Argentine ladies, 
and especially those lavished on priestly vestments 
and other accessories of religious ceremonials. Nor 
can the ladies of any part of Argentina excel, — it 
is no disparagement to them to add, — if, indeed, 
they can equal, those of Cordoba in this accomplish- 
ment. In woven articles, fineness of finish is hardly 
to be expected where only the most primitive me- 
chanical appliances exist. Yet are Cordobese fruits 
of the loom not without real excellence, and their 
bright colors and varied patterns show considerable 
ingenuity. 

The city of Cordoba is in the altos, twelve hun- 
dred and forty feet above sea level. It was founded 
thirty-four years before the first English settlement 
was made within the present limits of the United 
States. For a considerable time it was the capital 
of the Intendencia of Tucuman, which included the 
territory now embraced in the Argentine Provinces 
of Cordoba, Tucuman, Rioja, Catamarca, Santiago 
del Estero, Salta, and Jujui. Forty years ago Sar- 
miento thus described it : 

" Cordoba, though somewhat in the grave old 
Spanish style, is the most charming city in South 
America in its first aspect. It is situated in a hollow 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 253 

formed in an elevated region called the Altos, So 
closely are its symmetrical buildings crowded together 
for want of space, that it may be said to be folded 
back upon itself The sky is remarkably clear, the 
winter season dry and bracing, the summers hot and 
stormy. 

" Towards the east it has a promenade of singular 
beauty, the capricious outlines of which strike the 
eye with a magical effect. It consists of a square 
pond, surrounded by a very broad walk shaded by 
ancient willow trees of colossal size. Each side is 
the length of a cuadra (square). The enclosure is 
of wrought-iron grating with enormous doors in the 
centre of each of its four sides, so that the prom- 
enade is an enchanted prison, within which its 
inmates circulate around a beautiful temple of Greek 
architecture. In the chief square stands the mag- 
nificent cathedral, of Gothic construction, with its 
immense dome carved in arabesques, the only model 
of mediaeval architecture, so far as I know, existing 
in South America. Another square is occupied by 
the church and convent of the Society of Jesus, in 
the presbytery of which is a trap-door communi- 
cating with excavations which extend to some dis- 
tance below the city, which are at present imper- 
fectly explored : dungeons have also been discovered 



254 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

where the society buried its criminals alive. If any 
one wishes to become acquainted with monuments 
of the middle ages and to examine into the power 
and the constitution of that celebrated religious 
order above referred to. Cordoba is the place where 
one of its greatest central establishments was 
situated. 

" In every square of that compact city stands a 
superb convent, a monastery, or a house for unpro- 
fessional nuns, or for the performance of specific 
religious exercises. In former times every family in- 
cluded a priest, a monk, a nun, or a chorister ; the 
poorer classes contenting themselves with having 
among them a hermit, a lay-brother, a sacristan, or 
an acolyte. Each convent or monastery possessed 
a set of adjoining out-buildings, where lived and 
multiplied eight hundred slaves of the order; 
negroes, zamboes, mulattoes, and quadroons, with 
blue eyes, fair and waving hair, limbs as polished 
as marble, genuine Circassians adorned with every 
grace, but showing their African origin by their 
teeth, serving for bait to the passions of man, all 
for the greater honor and profit of the convent to 
which these houris belonged. 

" Here is also the celebrated University of Cor- 
doba, founded as long ago as 1613, and in whose 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



255 



gloomy cloisters eight generations of medicine and 
divinity, both branches of law, illustrious writers, 
commentators, and scholars have passed their 
youth. . . . 

" It is a fact that, as a traveller approaches Cor- 
doba, he looks along the horizon without discovering 
the sanctimonious and mysterious city, — the city 
that wears the doctor's cap and tassels. At last his 
guide says, ' Look, it is down there among the 
bushes.' And in reality, as he fixes his gaze upon 
the ground at a short distance in advance there 
appear one, two, three, ten crosses, followed by 
domes and towers belonging to the many churches." 

Not a word of this beautiful description need be 
altered, but to it must be added the new life, the 
new thought, the new enterprise of a generation of 
the new Republic. The Alameda still sleeps in 
beauty, and rustic sofas between each pair of trees 
invite the lover of beauty to loiter beneath the 
graceful willows and tall poplars that mirror the 
added growth of forty years in those clear waters. 
The " Grecian temple," built by the Jesuits, is at 
times occupied by a band of music, whose strains 
float softly over the lake. A little pleasure boat 
rides on its waters. The Alameda Lake, with its 
surrounding streets, covers about six acres, and lies 



256 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

six hundred yards from the principal plaza, to which 
it is connected by a beautiful avenue. 

The streets of the city cross each other at right 
angles and are well shaded with trees ; each block 
has a frontage of six hundred Spanish feet and 
contains four acres. The suburbs west of the lake 
for some distance are laid out in the same way, and 
devoted to fruit gardens and fine quhita residences, 
where the families of wealthy citizens live during 
the summer. The streets of this suburb are also 
beautifully shaded with trees, an unusual circum- 
stance in a La Plata city. The gravelly soil of 
Cordoba renders street paving unnecessary. The 
sidewalks are paved with granite and marble. 
Everything, save only the encroachments of busi- 
ness, indicates aesthetic culture. Yet scarce a thing 
of beauty exists that may not be traced to the 
Jesuits and their Indian bondmen. The Church of 
San Domingo, of this city, was the first built by 
them within Argentine limits. Originally it bore the 
name of the founder of the colony. The University 
Church of the order now belongs to the National 
Government, and is devoted to the cause of popular 
education. The bishop's school, for the education 
of priests, is near to the Jesuits' college, not far from 
the cathedral. Cordoba is distinctively " the city 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



257 



of churches," " the city of savants," " the Athens 
of the Argentine Republic." 

The building of a flouring-mill in 1862, by a 
Frenchman, Monsieur Victor Roque, at a cost of 
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, was the 
beginning of a new epoch in Cordobese history 
in which manufactures and commerce clasp hands 
with intellectual culture. At that time flour was 
worth four dollars per hundred-weight in the city, 
and it cost half as much to cart it to Rosario. 

Rio Cuarto, on the line of the Transandine Rail- 
way, is the second city in size in the Province. In 
1882 the National Government began there the 
erection of extensive works for the manufacture of 
gunpowder. Other villages are aspiring to the 
dignity of towns. 

In the Province of Santiago del Estero (Saint 
James of the Rivulets) the heavy-timbered plains of 
tropical America, the prairies and the Cordilleras 
meet. The Salado River, that collects the water of 
many of the " rivulets," forms its northern boundary. 
The navigability of this river for eight hundred miles 
was established by Lieutenant Thomas Page, com- 
mander of the United States Scientific Expedition, 
that was engaged from 1853 to 1856 in exploring 

the La Plata and its tributaries. In his report of 
r 22* 



258 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

the expedition, Lieutenant Page says of the Salado: 
" It flows through a country unequalled for pastoral 
and agricultural purposes, and brings into commu- 
nication with the Atlantic some of the richest and 
most populous Provinces, — Santiago del Estero, 
Tucuman, Salta, and Jujui." While this is the case, 
it is equally true that, owing to saline deposits, large 
tracts of the Province of Santiago are rendered 
barren; and, as a whole, the Province is less adapted 
to agriculture than any other part of the Argen- 
tine Republic yet fully explored. The monte, or 
thorny brushwood, is in places so dense that a man 
who would pass through it must protect his body 
with a suit of leather. A great part of the Province 
is still public domain. The mass of the inhabitants 
show comparatively little admixture of European 
blood, are among the most industrious of Argentine 
citizens, and as little dependent on foreign im- 
ports. Notwithstanding the disappointment of the 
Manchester manufacturers with regard to wild 
cotton along the Salado, this whole district is 
admirably adapted to its culture, and the experi- 
ments made have given a fibre of superior quality. 
As yet, dearth of labor and cost of transportation 
have been obstacles in the way of its cultivation for 
exportation, but it is raised for domestic use. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



259 



The women are devoted to the loom, and from 
native cotton provide the larger part of the cotton 
cloth used for the clothing of the laboring class. 
The men construct nearly all the carretas used in 
overland traffic, but depend on mule-back trans- 
portation for their own inland trade. Cattle raising 
and different branches of agriculture are also carried 
on to some extent. The spoken language is a mix- 
ture of Spanish and Quichua. The people live, to 
a large extent, on the fruits of the cactus and 
algarroba. As in the other highland Provinces, the 
bread most commonly used is made from algarroba 
flour, and is called patey. The algarroba tree, which 
is more widely diffused throughout the La Plata 
countries than any other tree, and is allied to the 
honey locust of North America, grows very abun- 
dantly in these northern Provinces. The pod has a 
thick pulp with a rather sweetish taste. When ripe 
they are gathered in large quantities and stacked 
near the houses, and form the principal aliment of 
both man and beast. That intended for bread is 
protected from rain. The flour is made by pound- 
ing the pods in large wooden mortars until the 
dried pulp is pulverized, and passing it through a 
sieve to remove the seeds. It is a laborious em- 
ployment, and the flour sometimes sells for eight 



26o LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

times as much as the pods from which it could be 
produced. The flour is mixed with water and 
pressed into cakes in wooden moulds, and baked 
in the sun. It is then ready for use. It keeps well, 
and is exported in considerable quantities to the 
Provinces where the tree does not grow so abun- 
dantly. It is a convenient article of diet for those 
who accompany the caravans on their long journeys. 
The algarroba pods are the principal winter food of 
stock, and are fed out much as the farmer of the 
southwestern part of the United States dispenses 
hay and corn. The passage in the parable of the 
Prodigal Son, which in the English version of the 
Bible reads, " He would fain have filled his belly 
with the husks which the swine did eat," in the 
Spanish translation is rendered, " He would fain 
have filled his belly with algarrobas, which the 
swine did eat," and finds a clear exposition in the 
habits of these people. 

The sugar of the algarroba is like that of the 
grape, and a fermented drink called aloja is made 
from the crushed pods by soaking them in water. 
It is the popular refreshment at social gatherings. 
The fruit of the tuna cactus, or prickly pear, ranks 
next after the algarroba in the diet of the peasantry. 
The cactus attains the dimensions of a large, scraggy 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 26 1 

tree, and, where other timber is not attainable, serves 
for many mechanical uses, and is even sometimes 
used ^ as props in mines. The common English 
name " prickly pear," or " pear of Algiers," is taken 
from the shape of its fruit, which is of a rather 
coarse texture and very sweet, A preserve is made 
from it that finds a ready market in the coast cities 
and in Chili, and is greatly in demand throughout 
these Provinces. 

The cochineal insect lives on the cactus, and, 
with it, is indigenous throughout the La Plata 
basin. In Santiago and Tucuman the insect is gath- 
ered, pulverized in mortars, mixed with water, and 
made into small cakes that are dried in the sun 
and sold under the name of grano. The cultivation 
of the cactus for the sake of the insect has not yet 
received attention. 

The Province of Tucuman is pre-eminently " the 
garden of the Argentine Republic." The city of 
Tucuman was founded in 1565 by one of the com- 
panions of Pizarro, and was the first capital of the 
Intendencia of the same name, which extended from 
the Andes to the Paraguay River. Very properly 
the Declaration of Independence, made in 18 16 
by the Congress representing the several Provinces 
of the viceroyalty that had grown out of it, was 



262 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

promulgated from this ancient capital. The portion 
of the old Intendencia which still bears the name 
of the Inca chief, Tucu Ammu, is the smallest and 
most thoroughly cultivated of the Argentine Prov- 
inces, and the only one in which there are no public 
lands. Its well-kept fields are enclosed by neat 
cactus hedges. By this it is not intended to convey 
the idea that all the land is cultivated by the indus- 
trious descendants of the Inca peasantry, but that 
a larger proportion of it is under cultivation than 
in any other Province. 

Sugar-cane heads the list of its cultivated crops, 
and is followed by maize, wheat, rice, tobacco, 
peanuts, and many others. It was the first Province 
to introduce the cultivation of the cane. The 
variety grown is perennial and of good quality. 
Ten years ago it was stripped in the fields and 
hauled in bullock carts only to rude mills of do- 
mestic construction. Now much of the machin- 
ery used is of the best French manufacture. In 
1 88 1 its sugar interests represented a value of 
^900,000, and in 1883 they had increased to 
;^ 1 6,000,000. There were then 175,000 acres of 
cane. The industry has also spread into the ad- 
joining Provinces, but the yield of the whole region 
is known as Tucuman sugar. The most desirable 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 263 

quality is a light brown granulated sugar. It is 
preferred in the cities of the litoral to the Brazilian 
brands. The whole Argentine sugar crop of 1882 
was 25,606,429 pounds. The Republic now pro- 
duces about one-half of the amount it consumes. 

By the census of 1882 the population of the 
Province was 24,237. 

Tucuman had the honor of giving its third 
President to the reconstructed Republic. 



264 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE HIGHLAND PROVINCES. 

The four Provinces, Rioja, Catamarca, Salta, and 
Jujui, lie wholly in the highlands. Only in the 
eastern part of Salta do they unite with the plains. 

As the precious metals were the only natural re- 
sources valued by the conquerors during colonial 
times, the highlands were regarded as the important 
part of what is now the Argentine Republic. The 
ports of the La Plata and intermediate cities were 
only depots of supply and trading posts on the route 
to the rich mining regions of the interior. During 
the long war for independence, when it was contin- 
ually the theatre of the most thrilling deeds of patri- 
otic heroism, it suffered a correspondingly greater 
devastation ; and when the years of anarchy that 
followed the war of independence had passed, the 
old civilization and wealth of the interior was almost 
wholly destroyed, and its mining interests in a state 
of utter stagnation. Its distance from the seaboard 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



265 



and want of means of transportation was a serious 
barrier against a speedy recuperation. But the pass- 
ing years have brought returning prosperity. 

'The district is traversed by nearly parallel ranges 
of mountains, each increasing in height till they 
reach the Andes proper, of which they are the 
gradual approach. The valleys between them are 
the most accessible routes to the Bolivian plateau. 
The western sides of these Cordilleras are abrupt, 
often presenting faces of bare rock, while their east- 
ern slopes are more gentle and in parts covered 
with vegetation. The valleys are fertile, and pro- 
duce subtropical plants in luxuriance. The bananas 
of Salta, it is claimed, are better than those of 
Brazil, and its coffee is of very superior quality. 
The grape flourishes throughout the district, and 
even the lower mountain slopes offer it a congenial 
climate. In 1881 Catamarca produced one million 
two hundred thousand gallons of wine, valued at 
one hundred and eight thousand dollars, or nine 
cents per gallon. 

The term fruit culture may perhaps be regarded 

as a misnomer where no further attention is given 

to the spontaneous outpourings of a bountiful soil 

than to gather the ripe wild fruits ; but fruit drying 

is an industry that employs the hands of many 
M 23 



266 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

women and children in the valleys of the highlands 
proper, as well as in the " garden" of Argentina. 
Prunes, peaches, figs, and other spontaneous fruits 
are dried on scaffolds in the sun and find their 
market in the southern cities and in Chili. Raisins 
are also shipped to Chili in considerable quantities. 
The peach tree is not indigenous to this section, but 
was introduced from Chili, and now large forests of 
it grow wild. Oranges, lemons, limes, and bananas 
are too perishable to be a source of income with 
the existing means of transportation, except as they 
can be converted into dnlce, or preserves ; and for 
this the fruit of the palm, cactus, and wild quince 
are more generally employed. The steeper moun- 
tain sides afford a theatre for more rugged indus- 
tries, and in Catamarca "Alpine milk farming" has 
long been carried on, and the cheese of the district 
has acquired a flattering celebrity. 

Tingonasta, the western Department of Cata- 
marca, lies wholly in the rugged chain of the An- 
des, and through it the Tingonasta Pass leads over 
to Chili and connects the northern towns of the 
Argentine Republic with Copiapo, and thence by 
railroad with the port of Caldera on the Pacific. It 
is through this pass that the transandine branch of 
the North Central Argentine Railroad has been pro- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 26/ 

jected, and by which the proposed Gran Chaco 
Railroad anticipates connecting the mouth of the 
Paraguay River with the Pacific. 

The inhabitants of these Provinces have always 
been more independent of foreign manufactures than 
those of the litoral. Laces and embroideries made 
by the women are in common use and more than 
supply the home demand. The women also weave 
nearly all the cotton and woollen cloths used for 
common clothing; also blankets, rugs, chirapas, and 
poncJios. In some districts a loom is a part of the 
furniture of almost every house. Shawls and pon- 
chos made by the women of Catamarca from vicuna 
wool show the most patient painstaking. The De- 
partment of Andagala is especially noted for this 
manufacture. 

The vicuna, valued for its long wool almost re- 
sembling silk, is the smallest species of the llama or 
American camel, and is about two and a half feet 
high at the shoulders. All attempts to domesticate 
it have failed, and it is hunted for its fleece among 
the rugged steeps of its native mountains. The 
wool on its back is a dark yellowish brown shading 
down through brownish yellow on the sides to a 
pale yellow, almost white, on the under part of the 
body. The filaments of these several natural shades 



268 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

are carefully separated by hand, and twisted into 
threads by a spindle held between the thumb and 
finger, and woven into stripes shading from the 
darlcest to the lightest tints. The fabrics are soft, 
warm, light, impervious to water, and pleasing to 
the eye. They probably differ little from the royal 
clothing of the Inca, made from the same wool by 
the same method. (The vicuna wool was reserved 
for the use of the royal family under the Inca 
dynasty, and hence the animal that produced it was 
the royal animal.) A lady's scarf of pure vicuna 
wool, made in Catamarca, sells for from one hun- 
dred to two hundred and fifty dollars. Ponchos 
made from it are comparatively rare, being super- 
seded by imitations made from the wool of the 
sheep. The vicuna wool was for a time a con- 
siderable article of export to Europe, where it is 
known as vigonia zvool. Owing to the great de- 
mand for it, the animals were ruthlessly hunted and 
slaughtered for their fleece, until the scarcity of the 
wool called the attention of the authorities to the 
danger of their extermination, and protective laws 
were enacted. The guanaco, from which comes the 
domesticated llama, is also a denizen of the Argen- 
tine highlands. It is about a foot higher than the 
vicuna, and its long, silky wool hair is scarcely less 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 269 

prized. The guanaca haunts the Andean Cordilleras 
at from eight thousand to twelve thousand feet 
elevation, from Peru to Patagonia. Pizarro and his 
followers were astonished on seeing great droves 
of them domesticated under the Incas and guarded 
by shepherds as were the flocks in Spain. They 
were then the beast of burden of the Andes, and 
long caravans of them traversed the mountain 
defiles connecting the various parts of the empire, 
carrying loads of merchandise of about fifty pounds' 
weight on their backs. The conquerors hence called 
them llmnitas (little camels). The mule has suc- 
ceeded them as the Andean burden bearer. 

Although wheat, maize, mandioco, and a great 
variety of other crops are grown for local consump- 
tion and might easily afford subsistence to a popula- 
tion many times more dense than now exists there, 
the mineral resources of these Provinces are their 
great wealth, and, as was the case two centuries ago, 
the mining interests are regarded as of paramount 
importance. Gold, silver, copper, tin, bismuth, iron, 
platinum, and other metals are found in many local- 
ities, and the whole Argentine Cordilleras seem to 
be charged with metallic wealth only awaiting ex- 
ploitation. The mountain ranges of Rioja and Cata- 

marca are especially rich in gold, silver, and copper. 
23* 



270 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

The gold is usually found in placers and the silver 
in veins. The Famatima is the most noted mining 
district of the Republic, It extends from 25° to 30° 
south latitude, and has a width of about 2°. It is 
claimed that the famous wealth of the Aragonese 
was taken from the Caldera mines of this district. 
Twenty years ago, the British consul at Buenos 
Ayres wrote to his countrymen : " The district is so 
extensive and so extraordinarily metalliferous that 
erratic miners, working on the surface, which is 
traversed at every angle and in every possible direc- 
tion by hundreds of virgin lodes, extract ores of 
such richness that the annual product thus obtained 
equals eighty thousand dollars. An equal amount 
is obtained from other mines in the same manner of 
working." This remark illustrates at the same time 
the nature of the district and the Argentine mining 
law, by which mineral treasure belongs to the finder, 
provided he works his claim. If he fail to do this, 
with at least two men, for ninety consecutive days, 
he forfeits his right, and any one who knows of 
the failure may report it and claim the mine for 
himself. 

The rich mines of the Nevada Famatima are on 
the eastern and southeastern slopes. On account 
of their great elevation and the consequent rarefac- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



271 



tion of the air and the excessive cold, they can be 
worked only by miners native to these regions. 
The securing of their treasures is rendered yet more 
difficult by the percolation of water, for removing 
which there are no adequate appliances. The at- 
tempt to carry it out in leather bags sometimes has 
been made, but with indifferent success. Want of 
fuel is another disadvantage against which the 
mining interests have had to contend. To some 
of the richest mines it must be carried on mule- 
back long distances. 

The Mexicana mine in the Famatima district, 
twelve thousand feet above sea level, is the highest 
as well as one of the richest known worked mines. 
There, " the miner, who lives in a badly-lighted little 
hut above the clouds, passes a life of privation and 
misery, complicated by dangers without number. 
Around and above him all verdure has disappeared. 
He can only perceive three colors : at his feet, the 
clouds resembling a whitish-gray mist, a hazy ocean 
from whence emerge the peaks of the mountains ; 
before him, the white plains of the eternal snow, 
and above him an invariably pure sky of a deep- 
blue color. The only animals — save the dog — which 
have followed man to these stormy regions are a 
bird and a small rat, both of a grayish color." 



272 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

According to the official report, the minerals pro- 
duced in the Argentine Republic in 1882 were : 

Gold dust -16,146 

Silver 227,440 

Silver ore 38,091 

Copper in bars ...... 125,759 

Tin 85,129 

Copper ore 21,728 

Lead ore ....... 10,398 

Lead in pigs 4,833 

Other minerals 48,717 

Total $568,591 

This was a gain of ^165,828 over the preceding 
year. 

In 1883 a thorough examination of the Famatima 
district was made under the direction of a British 
engineer, who confirmed the opinion that the region 
is a vast field for mining industries, and that the 
sierras are very rich in silver and gold, and that the 
region of the copper mines of Catamarca is also 
very rich. New mining machinery has been intro- 
duced, and " the result has been highly satisfactory." 

To encourage the development of the mineral 
resources, a national School of Mining and Practical 
Engineering was established in 1884. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



273 



Less has heretofore been known of the pecuhar 
resources of Jujui than of any other Province, but 
late explorations show that it has very remarkable 
deposits of mineral oils. It is claimed that through- 
out its whole extent " there are lakes of oil covered 
with liquid like pitch ; also bituminous rocks which 
burn like stove coal, and valleys full of a sub- 
stance resembling pitch or having the appearance 
of asphalt, and springs from which flow oil instead 
of water," The largest lake discovered covers an 
"area of about eighty-eight acres and is of un- 
known depth, covered with a cap of naphtha. The 
liquid is somewhat thick, of black color, and with- 
out disagreeable odor. The analysis of the crude 
liquid compares favorably with the crude oil from 
Pennsylvania and other oil regions. The rectified 
petroleum from it is colorless, and pronounced equal 
to the best received from the United States. It will 
not inflame below 55° Centigrade." 

Dr. Luis Brackenbusch, a distinguished German 
scientist, who is now professor of geology in the 
University of Cordoba, made a thorough examina- 
tion of this remarkable region in 1882 and 1883, 
and prepared a map of it. He reported that " There 
exists a subterranean river of liquid kerosene, whose 
depth it is not yet possible to determine with pre- 



274 -^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

cision, and which it will be necessary to learn by- 
means of perforations. According to his experi- 
ments, these deposits contain about twenty-five per 
cent, of mineral oil, and in some places the liquid 
that flows from them contains thirty-five per cent, of 
pure kerosene. A company, with a concession from 
the provincial government of Jujui for twenty years, 
has been organized to develop this immense petro- 
leum resource." * 

* E. L. Baker, United States consul at Buenos Ayres. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



275 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE NATIONAL TERRITORIES. 

Among the multitude of interests that have de- 
manded the thought of Argentine legislators, how 
to reclaim, govern, develop, and dispose of the 
public lands has been a subject of frequent consid- 
eration. Except the part of the Mesopotamia al- 
ready described as the Territory of Misiones, these 
public lands consist of a vast and heretofore almost 
unknown district, extending northward from the 
frontier of Santa Fe to the Bolivian boundary, 
known as El Gran Chaco (an Indian name, sig- 
nifying the great Imnting ground), and another vast 
area south of the Cuyo district, known by the gen- 
eral term Pampas, and the Patagonian peninsula. 

The treaties of limits made with Chili, Bolivia, 
and Paraguay removed all doubts as to the right 
of jurisdiction, and at each subsequent session of 
the National Congress the subject of territories has 
been presented. In 1883 the deliberations on that 



2/6 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



subject culminated in the passage of the Territor- 
ies Bill (alluded to in Chapter XIV.), providing 
for the survey, division, and sale of public lands, 
and fixing the price of those in Gran Chaco and 
Misiones at two dollars, and those of the pampas 
and Patagonia at one dollar and fifty cents per 
square hectacre. 

Various propositions had been made from time 
to time relating to subdividing the public lands for 
the purpose of making it easier to govern them, and 
maps were published and popularly accepted giving 
such subdivisions. On the passage of the Terri- 
tories Bill a committee was appointed to make a 
report on this subject, and the Congress of 1884 
approved of the report, which provides for the 
division of the public domain as follows : 

" I, Territory of the Pampa. Bounded north by 
the 35° parallel, which separates it from the Prov- 
inces of Mendoza, San Luis, Cordoba, and Santa 
Fe ; east by Province of Buenos Ayres ; west by 
Province of Mendoza and the Colorado River; south 
by the Colorado River. 

" II. Territory of Neuguen. Bounded north by 
the Province of Mendoza, and along the river Bar- 
rancas and continuation of the Colorado; east by 
the river Neuguen to its confluence with the river 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



277 



Limai ; south by the river Limai to Lake Nahuel 
Huapi ; west by Chilian boundary Hne. 

" III. Territory of Rio Negro. Bounded north 
by the Colorado River; east by fifth meridian to 
the Rio Negro ; thence along this river to the At- 
lantic; south by 42° parallel; west by Chili, the 
river Limai, and the river Neuguen. 

" IV. Territory of Chubut* Bounded north by 
42° parallel ; east by the Atlantic; south by the 46° 
parallel ; west by Chili. 

" V. Territory of Santa Cruz. Bounded north 
by 46° parallel ; east by the Atlantic ; south by the 
52° parallel, and following the Chilian boundaiy; 
west by Chili. 

" VI. Territory of Tierra del Fuego. Bounded 
north by the Straits of Magellan ; east by the At- 
lantic; west by Chilian boundary; and includes Los 
Estados Islands. 

" VII. Territory of Misiones. Bounded north by 
the Parana River; east by the Iguazu ; south by the 
Uruguay; west by Province of Corrientes. 

" VIII. Territory of Formoso (on former maps 



* This name is sometimes spelled Chupat. I have followed the 
orthography of the geographies used in the public schools of the 
Republic. 

24 



278 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



marked Bermejo). Bounded north by Pilcomayo 
River to the Bolivian boundary ; east by the Para- 
guay River; south by the Bermejo; west by the 
Bermejo up to the Teuco River. 

" IX. Territory of Gran Chaco. Bounded north 
by the Bermejo River; east by the Parana and 
Paraguay Rivers ; south by 29° parallel ; west by 
line from Tostado to Las Barrancas on the Salado; 
thence a straight line to the branch of the Teuco, 
through the old Carreta Quemada fort on the 
branch of the Bermejo," 

Previous to this subterritorial division a number 
of agricultural settlements had been established in 
the Gran Chaco along the course of the Parana and 
Paraguay Rivers, and Formoso, on the Paraguay 
River, one hundred miles north of Asuncion, had 
been made the capital. It remains the capital of 
the new-formed Territory of that name. The cut- 
ting of timber has already become a considerable 
industry in those northern settlements. Several ex- 
peditions have been sent out to explore the inte- 
rior of the Great Hunting Ground, but up to the 
passage of that bill all had ended in disaster. It 
is estimated that there are forty-five thousand In- 
dians in the Gran Chaco. These are divided into 
many tribes. While some show a friendly dispo- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



279 



sition towards the settlers, others manifest a deter- 
mined hostility to the aggressive disposition of the 
whites. How close may be the relationship of the 
Argentine Chaco Indians with those of Bolivia and 
Paraguay can only be conjectured. Whether there 
be a better way of reclaiming them than by military 
force is a subject that has engaged some thought 
among Argentine philanthropists, and some recent 
attempts have been made by the National Church 
to establish missions among them, modelled after 
those of the Jesuits of the seventeenth century. 
These also have failed, because, as President Avel- 
lenada expressed it, " The Indians of our day do 
not seem inclined to become the willing vassals of 
spiritual rulers." As a more effectual means, the 
Congress of 1883 appropriated the sum of five hun- 
dred thousand dollars for an armed expedition to 
open roads through the Chaco, dig wells and estab- 
lish military posts, and cover the whole Bolivian 
boundary; to select locations for colonies, test the 
navigability of the Bermejo River, and do every- 
thing necessary to prepare the way for civilization. 
When the expedition left Buenos Ayres, in Septem- 
ber, 1884, under the command of the minister of 
war, President Roca accompanied it to the head of 
the Catalinas mole, where it embarked, and on part- 



28o ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

ing with General Victorica, said, " I wish you, gen- 
eral, the best of good health and good luck in your 
expedition, and hope that by next New Year's day 
we will be able to present our country with twelve 
thousand leagues of fertile land. The Chaco which 
you go to conquer will yet prove a magnificent 
region, not alone for the Republic, but for civiliza- 
tion." The next issue of the Buenos Ayres Standard 
expressed the belief that it could find customers for 
ten thousand square leagues at four hundred dollars 
per league. As a warm climate is not likely to 
attract any large proportion of the immigration from 
Northern Europe, the probability is that when the 
Gran Chaco is settled it will be principally from the 
countries of the Mediterranean. 

One of the first experiments at colonization made 
by the National Government, and the first made in 
the Patagonian peninsula, was at Carmen de Pata- 
gones, for some time the military outpost on the 
north side of the Rio Negro. In latitude it nearly 
corresponds with the city of New York, Above 
this point the Indians of the pampas — estimated 
at twenty-four thousand — had in some degree be- 
come allies, if not subjects, of the government, and 
many of them engaged in military service. Others 
maintained friendly relations with the estanceros of 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 28 1 

the Province of Buenos Ayres. Below this point the 
savage was still a terror to the pale face. The 
number of Patagonian Indians is estimated at 
twenty-five thousand. 

Wheat culture was introduced and shared with 
the care of cattle in the attention of the colonists 
with such happy results that farms and estaiicias 
have extended up the Rio Negro valley. 

Later, a colony was planted in the district of 
Viedma, south of the Rio Negro. It now has 
3700 inhabitants, with nearly six hundred children 
attending school, 30,000 acres in cultivation, and 
20,000 cows, 150,000 sheep, 6500 horses, and 2700 
hogs. In 1883 its exports to Buenos Ayres 
amounted to a little over ^^700. The imports were 
a trifle in excess of exports, A line of small 
steamers make regular trips several hundred miles 
up the Rio Negro, and there is a proposition to 
bind the colonies of the Rio Negro to the national 
heart by a railroad from Bahia Blanca to Carmen 
de Patagones. 

The next experiment to the southward was the 
planting of a Welsh colony near the mouth of the 
Chubut River. This was attended with consider- 
able expense to the government. As is usual in 

pioneer settlements the colony encountered many 
24* 



282 LA PLATA COUNTRIES. 

discouragements, owing, chiefly, to its isolation, its 
remoteness from its base of supplies, and the in- 
frequency and uncertainty of communication be- 
tween the port of Chubut and Buenos Ayres ; and 
there were not wanting those who prophesied its 
final extinction. But perseverance has proved better 
than prophecy, and for several years the colony of 
Chubut has been an inspiration to the hand that 
fostered it. Its exports in 1882 consisted of wheat, 
wool, ostrich feathers, guanaco skins, ostrich robes, 
and sundry other articles, amounting in all to 
forty-one thousand dollars. The Chubut River, 
which flows through the colony, overflows its banks, 
and the colonists depend on this for irrigation. The 
town of Chubut has a population of twelve hundred 
and eighty-six. The proposition to connect it with 
the excellent harbor at Golfo Nuevo (New Gulf) by 
a railroad thirty miles long will probably be carried 
into effect soon. 

In 1883 another colony was established farther 
down the coast at Puerto Deseado (Port Desire), 
in what is now the Territory of Chubut, and 
another in the Territory of Santa Cruz, near the 
coast of the Gulf of Santa Cruz, A supply of 
sheep and horses were taken to these new colonies. 
At Santa Cruz, the most southern point of the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 283 

continent yet occupied by colonists, the mercury 
in winter does not fall below 15° Fahrenheit. 

By actual exploration it is now ascertained that, 
instead of the bleak plain, as was formerly sup- 
posed, "the southern part of Patagonia is varied 
by considerable elevations, deep canons, low, deep 
glens, and wide valleys rich with natural grasses, 
and that the whole region between the Chubut and 
Tapley Rivers unite the conditions of great fertility, 
great mineral wealth, and a climate that admirably 
fits it for settlement. Between the Sangar River 
and the Atlantic, although not so rich as the former, 
yet has wide breadths of good pasture land, fertile 
valleys, and never-failing waters, capable of holding 
thousands of horned cattle and horses ; and the 
same, to a less extent, may be said of the region 
around Puerto Deseado, Hills of moderate height 
alternate with canons and valleys of excellent 
grasses." 

Recent explorations have also revealed the pleas- 
ant truth that the region at the base of the Andes 
is " made up of meadows and rich valleys," and 
within the past two years colonies have been planted 
in the Territory of Neuguen, under the shadow of 
the great mountains, with every probability of a 
bright future. 



284 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

Thus it appears that Patagonia, that " bleak and 
uninhabitable region," is going into oblivion in com- 
pany with the " Great American Desert" that forty 
years ago was almost the only geographical cer- 
tainty of the United States west of the Missis- 
sippi. 

A colony was also established on the island of 
Tierra del Fuego, in 1883, as the capital of the Ter- 
ritory of Tierra del Fuego. 

For the convenience, and to insure the perma- 
nence of the several colonies along the Patagonian 
coast, the National Government has entered into a 
contract with a company to run a line of steamers 
down the coast from the city of Buenos Ayres to 
Tierra del Fuego, csilling regularly at all intermediate 
points. The contract is made for twelve years, and 
costs the government thirty thousand dollars per 
month. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 285 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE ARMY AND NAVY. 



A SENSE of the security of life and property is 
essential to material prosperity. No people will 
continue in the practices of industry and frugality 
unless reasonably certain that what they may ac- 
cumulate is likely to promote their own welfare. 
The lack of such assurance was one of the condi- 
tions that barred industrial enterprises from the 
Spanish La Plata during its half-century of transi- 
tion from colonial dependence to national individu- 
ality. That anew impulse has been given to local 
industries is an added proof, on the one hand, that 
the people feel confidence in the protecting arm of 
the nation, and on the other, that their increasing 
numbers give confidence that they can control the 
protecting arm. For a people with such a military 
record, the rather modest summary of the nation's 
ability for self-protection is thus stated: "Army — 
3500 infantry; 2474 cavalry; 815 artillery; with 



286 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

4 lieutenant-generals, 14 generals of divisions, 50 
colonels, 127 lieutenant-colonels, 142 majors, and 
742 officers of other grades. This synopsis gives 
6 men to each of 811 officers, and five apiece to 
each of the remaining 169 officers, and may recall 
the statement jocosely current after the civil war in 
the United States, — that no one of less rank than a 
lieutenant served in it. But " things are not al- 
ways what they seem," and there is more in this 
military synopsis of the Argentine nation than at 
first appears. The word army includes two distinct 
classes of men, — the Army of the Line and the Na- 
tional Guard. Only the former is given in the 
statistical summary. The National Guard include 
every able-bodied male Argentine citizen between 
the ages of seventeen and forty-five years ; and all, 
or any part of these, may be called into active ser- 
vice whenever required. When so called into ser- 
vice they are equipped the same as the Army of 
the Line. By the estimates of 1883, the National 
Guard numbered 315,850, which, if called into 
service at once and no additional officers created, 
would give 330 men to each of 446 officers, and 329 
to each of the remaining 533 officers. Or, it would 
give to each colonel a regiment of 6450 men, with a 
few left for messengers. When the National Guard 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



287 



are called into service, it is the duty of the Army 
of the Line "to serve as a stimulus and model" for 
them. To prepare them for this and the duty of 
officers, the government has provided a military 
academy with fourteen teachers, and a school for 
non-commissioned officers with six teachers. In 
1883 there were 127 pupils in the former and (>Z in 
the latter. 

" In time of peace it is the duty of the Army of 
the Line to defend the frontier from depredations of 
the Indians, to garrison distant and sparsely-settled 
points, and to maintain internal order." 

The first of these specifications is effected by what 
is called a military cordon, or a line of connected 
military posts, each with a few soldiers under their 
appropriate officers ; all of which are subordinate to 
a central post more strongly garrisoned. The few 
men stationed at the intermediate points are sup- 
posed to reconnoitre daily the length assigned them, 
as policemen travel their beat, to see that no depre- 
dating bands have crossed their line. If tracks in 
the soil show that a greater number have crossed 
than they think they can manage, the other detach- 
ments are notified and the raiders are either pursued 
or taken on their return with their booty. The 
military have not the reputation of being more alert 



288 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

in these raids than their watchful foes. The cordon 
is moved outward as the Indians are subdued or 
held in check. Previous to 1868 it was close upon 
the Cuyo Provinces and along the southern border 
of Buenos Ayres. In 1882 it was along the Chubut 
and Rio Negro Rivers, the chief post being at Car- 
men de Patagones at the mouth of the Rio Negro. 
In i860 the vicinity of Rosario was subject to the 
depredations of the roving bands from the Gran 
Chaco. In 1882 the cordon for the protection of 
the northern part of the Province of Santa Fe was 
crowding the Indians of the Chaco north of the 
Salado boundary. 

The duty of maintaining internal order is dis- 
charged as a kind of military police service in town 
and country. Each district is under a military 
officer, who disposes of the forces under his com- 
mand as seems best to him. If a murder be 
committed, or a dead body found within his district, 
it is his business to look into the matter. 

In addition to the Army of the Line and the 
National Guard, the land forces include the Na- 
tional Reserve. This division of the army includes 
all male citizens fit for military duty over forty- 
five years of age. In 1869, when the first 
national census was taken, this corps was sixty- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 289 

eight thousand strong. At the same rate of 
increase as in the National Guard within the 
subsequent period, the reserve force of 1883 was 
h'ttle less than one hundred thousand men. Thus 
it appears that the effective land forces of the 
Argentine Republic exceeds four hundred and 
twenty-three thousand. 

But the army is only a part of the protective 
policy. There is a water as well as a land frontier 
to be guarded. For this the navy is provided, 
which is also in two divisions, — the navy proper 
and the Marhie National Guard. In 1883 the 
former consisted of thirty-nine vessels, with an 
aggregate of 12,630 tonnage and fifty-five guns. 
Their complement of officers and men were thus 
enumerated : " i rear admiral, 2 chiefs of squad- 
rons, 3 colonels, 9 lieutenant-colonels, 45 second 
lieutenants, 63 students, 23 midshipmen, 20 pay- 
masters, 48 engineers, 23 physicians, 2 almoners, 
20 pilots, 1505 seamen, and 1737 marines, including 
officers: a torpedo division 137 strong, and a flotilla 
of 3 steamers and 3 steam launches off the Rio 
Negro." 

The education of naval officers is provided for 
by a naval academy which, in 1883, had 17 teachers 
and 69 pupils. There is also a seaman's school 



290 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



that then numbered 9 teachers and 43 pupils. The 
navy and the Army of the Line " are recruited by 
voluntary enlistments for specified periods." 

The President of the Republic is, ex officio, com- 
mander-in-chief of all land and sea forces. He 
appoints all officers up to the rank of lieutenant- 
colonel, inclusive. He also appoints the higher 
grades, tvith the consent of the Senate. The Sec- 
retary of War and Navy is the highest military 
authority, and all orders are issued by him both 
in time of peace and of war. 



OF SOUTH AiMERICA. 



291 



CHAPTER XX. 

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES. 

The foundation of the present " school system" 
of the Argentine Republic was laid when, under the 
Rividavia administration, two young men from 
Buenos Ayres, who had studied some Scotch trea- 
tises on education, opened a school in San Juan and 
became the teachers of the child Francisco Domingo 
Sarmiento. The description of this school, after- 
wards given by that pupil, is one of the highest 
encomiums on that brief, bright rift in the clouds 
that enveloped three and a half centuries of La 
Plata history. Driven from his own land by suc- 
ceeding tyrannies, Sarmiento became a school-master 
in Chili. Later, he visited Europe and the United 
States, where schools were to him an object of deep 
interest. When his patriotism at last exulted in 
the overthrow of Rosas (to which he had devoted 
himself), and another attempt was made to secure 
a republican form of government, he turned his 



292 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

thought to the education of the people, to fit them 
for such government, and asked to be given the 
position of Director of Primary Instruction. As 
governor of his native Province he showed his 
gratitude for the school of his boyhood by using 
all his influence to secure, as far as possible, equal 
advantages for all its youth, and the Sarmiento 
College of San Juan, one of the largest and best 
equipped schools for boys in the Republic, is his 
living memorial. In 1862 he was appointed the 
first minister plenipotentiary from the " Argentine 
Republic" to the Government of the United States. 
During his residence at Washington no subject 
more absorbed his thought than that of popular 
education, as is attested by the translation of text- 
books, educational treatises, and a digest of the 
American school-code. His work while in the 
United States showed that the man and the patriot 
was still the school-master. In 1868 his country- 
men conferred on him the honor of the Presidency. 
Before his departure from the United States to 
assume its duties, the University of Michigan 
equally honored itself and him by conferring on 
him the degree of Doctor of Laws. In his inau- 
gural address he solemnly pledged himself to devote 
his whole energy to the highest good of his country. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



293 



A pledge for the keeping of which posterity will 
revere him. During his administration the "school 
law" of the Argentine Republic became closely 
allied to those of the United States, and the public 
school curriculum almost identical with that of the 
State of Michigan. He was succeeded in the Pres- 
idency by his Minister of Public Instruction, thus 
securing to the nation a continuance of the same 
educational policy ; and at his own request he 
became Director of Public Schools for the Province 
of Buenos Ayres. 

" But how can Argentine youth be taught and 
public schools created without teachers ?" " We 
must make teachers !" was the decision of Sarmi- 
ento and his coadjutors. "We must have normal 
schools, and teachers must be brought from more 
favored lands to teach our future teachers how to 
teach." Such was the logical conclusion reached 
by President, Congress, and Provincial legislators. 

A practical illustration of the doctrine was given 
in 1 87 1 by the opening of a Normal College, with 
a four years' course of study, at Parana. An edu- 
cator from the United States was placed at its head, 
and every young man taking the course was (and 
is) allowed thirty dollars per month from the 

Education Fund with which to defray his expenses 
25* 



2Q4 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

while pursuing his studies. In 1875 another law- 
was passed providing for the establishment of 
normal schools for girls, and opening to them the 
door of the one already established. The grant to 
girls taking the normal course is fifteen dollars per 
month. The reason assigned for not making it the 
same as to young men is that girls usually board 
with their parents, and so can live cheaper. All 
who accept the grant pledge themselves to teach 
three years for the government, wherever they may 
be needed, at an annual salary of not less than four 
hundred and eighty dollars for the first year. The 
school year of 1885 opened with twenty-two normal 
colleges in operation, and twenty-seven lady teachers 
from the United States engaged in them. They 
are under the direct control of the chief school 
authorities of the Provinces. Except in that of 
Parana, the course of study is designed for three 
years, with a post-graduate course of two years. 

These facts are especially significant when it is 
considered that previous to the consolidation of the 
government, in 1862, outside of the foreign popu- 
lation of Buenos Ayres, few ladies could read, and 
refined female education consisted of music, em- 
broidery, and the art of appearing. Many refined 
Argentine ladies of middle age cannot read or write, 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 295 

but show a laudable ambition to have their daugh- 
ters more thoroughly instructed. 

The record of the first normal college established 
by it is the most ample exposition of what the 
Argentine Government means when it reiterates 
the republican sentiment, " We must educate !" 
It was my privilege to attend the exercises at the 
first decennial commencement of Argentina's first 
normal college. The following statements are from 
notes taken at the time : 

The school consists of the Normal College, 
with a faculty of eleven professors and ninety-one 
students, and the School of Application, with 
nearly four hundred pupils, of whom nearly one- 
third are girls. Upon these the undergraduates 
of the College practise their powers of instruction 
under the direction of a lady principal from the 
United States. This lady receives an annual salary 
of two thousand dollars. 

The School of Application is a copy of the 
" Graded School" of the United States. Its course 
of study embraces " reading, writing, spelling, 
mental arithmetic, written arithmetic, universal 
geography, the science and structure of the Spanish 
language, history of the Argentine Republic, his- 
tory of America, civil government, drawing, and 



296 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

gymnastics," supplemented by " a full course of 
object lessons in botany, natural history, and 
physiology." 

The Normal College has a five years' course, 
comprising " arithmetic, reading, writing, drawing, 
composition, declamation, singing, gymnastics, 
methods, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, survey- 
ing, cosmography, physiology, natural history, 
grammar, French, English, book-keeping, geography, 
general history, and civil government." 

As in all schools supported by government, 
" religion is taught by a Catholic priest, who has 
regular hours as instructor, and draws a salary 
therefor from the government. Probably owing to 
the influence of foreigners not Catholics, Parana is 
one of the most liberal cities of the Republic in 
matters of religion, and no pupil is required to be 
present during the time devoted to this subject if 
the parents wish otherwise." 

In its first decade the college graduated seventy- 
one young men. The principal said of them, " All 
are holding good positions and doing good work 
in nearly every Province in the Republic." 

Three evenings of the commencement week re- 
ferred to were devoted to public examinations of 
the School of Application. The written examina- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 297 

tion, by which the pupils were promoted, had pre- 
ceded these. With regard to the public examina- 
tions the principal said, " These have a twofold 
object. First, to give the parents a small idea of 
what their children have done during the year, and 
also to interest them in the school.' Second, to 
give the graduating class a little opportunity of 
showing their capacity for teaching." With regard 
to the pupils she said, " The children of this coun- 
try are easy to govern, well inclined, and as intelli- 
gent as the children of the United States. In fact, I 
think they are more anxious to learn, as they have 
never before had the opportunity they have now, 
and seem anxious to improve the time." The three 
evenings of the examinations, during which their 
class exercises were enlivened by gymnastic dis- 
plays and varied with music, verified her remark. 
The crowded house showed the hold the cause of 
education has on the hearts of the people of Parana, 
and of Argentines generally. 

On " commencement evening" the " class essay" 
was read by one of the two young lady graduates 
(no ladies had been graduated before this), and the 
address of the President of the college was an able 
paper on the coeducation of the sexes. His argu- 
ments are familiar to the people of the United 



298 



LA PLATA COUNTRLES 



States, but must have sounded strangely in ears 
that had caught no foreign educational echoes, and 
awakened forebodings in minds accustomed only 
to the conventual system. This was the first and 
is still the only " mixed" government school. The 
principal said, " There was a strong feeling against 
it. Every one said it was not a possible thing. It 
has been preached against in the pulpit, and every- 
thing done to work against it. But that is now all 
in the past." The exercises closed with a graduates' 
ball. 

A like munificence has been shown in the matter 
of furnishing, as in the provision for pupils and 
faculty. The desks, maps, charts, scientific, mathe- 
matical, and mechanical apparatus are the result of 
the best brain-work in Europe and North America. 
It has a good library, in which are translations of 
many of the best educational works of the most 
advanced nations. 

The further to promote the cause of popular 
education, a " Teachers' Congress" was called by 
the Minister of Public Instruction, and was held in 
the national capital in 1882. The salaries of teachers 
in attendance, who were employed in government 
schools, were continued during the session, their 
expenses while there paid from the public fund, 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 299 

and free passes given them going and returning. 
There was a good attendance, and the discussions 
of the various subjects within its scope were prac- 
tical, albeit partaking of the usual inflated style. 
When it is considered how much has been accom- 
plished in so short a period, a little inflation of this 
kind can be pardoned. 

The purpose to provide means of obtaining prac- 
tical knowledge did not exhaust itself with the 
attempt to provide native teachers for primary in- 
struction through the medium of normal schools. 
With a considerable outlay a National College 
was opened in every Province, the scope of which 
is to furnish to young men the means of a scientific 
education and commercial training. Some of these 
have not been as well attended or as efficient as the 
outlay would seem to warrant. 

A few comparisons will show the result of the 
various efforts to provide educational facilities and 
the popular appreciation of them. In 1869 (when 
the first national census was attempted) there were 
4303 children in the public and private schools of 
the Province of Santa Fe. In 1879 there were 
10,989. The educational statistical table for 1872 
gave 468,987 children in the Republic, of whom 
81,183 were attending school, and the corresponding 



300 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

table for 1882 (from an estimate of 500,000 children 
between the ages of six and fourteen years) re- 
ported 209,963 in public and private schools or 
home taught. By these tables it appears that in 
the decade between 1872 and 1882 the proportion 
of children in the Republic receiving instruction 
had increased from seventeen to forty-one per cent. 
In the latter year, when 40,000 — less than half of the 
children in the Republic — were receiving the rudi- 
ments of education, there were 2023 educational 
institutions of all kinds within its limits, with an 
aggregate of 4097 teachers. This was an increase 
of 553 over the previous year, and supplemented 
the increase of 8009 pupils, but only 38 new schools. 
It seems to be the policy not to overcrowd teachers, 
but rather to give a large faculty to schools already 
opened than to extend the number of schools 
beyond the easy capacity of the teachers. Indeed, 
crowding any, class of national employes is not a 
national characteristic. 

Of the entire estimates of the national expenses 
for 1883, nearly one-sixth (^4,291,671.40) was for the 
department of " Justice, Public Worship, and Public 
Instruction," and of this sum ^2,190,430.88 was ex- 
pended for schools. In the Congress of that year 
the subject of abolishing sectarian religious instruc- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



301 



tion from the schools receiving support from the 
national treasury was agitated, and the succeeding 
Congress passed a law abolishing such instruction. 
Of the appropriation of $4,000,000 for schools, for 
the years 1884-85, the whole was for secular educa- 
tion. Naturally, the priests who were thrown out 
of lucrative positions by it were none too well 
pleased with the passage of this law ; but the execu- 
tive remained firm, and the law has been enforced. 

The National Government does not propose to 
supply the whole amount required for public in- 
struction, but only to supplement what is provided 
for that purpose by Provincial authorities and indi- 
vidual enterprise. " The Federal Government must 
pay one-third of the cost of the schools as soon as 
it is proved that the Provincial or district authority, 
or an association of citizens, has raised the other 
two-thirds of the sum required and approved of. 
The central government is also compelled to pay 
;^ 1 0,000 gold to every Province that has ten per 
cent, of its inhabitants at school, and this sum must 
be employed in the interests of public instruction."* 
As evidence of the entire impartiality of the govern- 

* Report of the Argentine Commission to the Centennial Exposi- 
tion at Philadelphia in 1876. 

26 



302 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

ment at that time, attention was called (in the report 
above quoted from) to the fact that these condi- 
tions are as obligatory for Protestant schools in 
Protestant colonies as if the religion taught were 
that of the country. Attention was further called to 
the fact that, " owing to the great illiteracy of the 
greater number of immigrants, government is not 
able to multiply schools fast enough . for their in- 
struction and for that of the children of the country." 

As an institution of higher education, the Uni- 
versity OF Cordoba still carries its hoary honors 
proudly. Theology, which absorbed its whole care 
for two hundred years, is now confined to the 
original college (Loretto) founded in 1613, and the 
younger faculties of jurisprudence, sciences, and 
medicine command confidence and respect. The 
University of Buenos Ayres, founded in 1820, suf- 
fered extinction during the reign of Rosas, but was 
speedily revived when his grinding power was 
removed. 

In both public and private schools much attention 
is given to the several European languages. In re- 
fined society it is not unusual for an individual to 
converse with those of various nationalities, each in 
his own tongue. The foreign languages most in 
demand are French, Italian, German, and English. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



303 



In 1870 a National Astronomical Observatory 
was founded at Cordoba and placed under the di- 
rection of B. A. Gould, of the United States ; and in 
1875 a Bureau of Meteorology was added. 

The further to promote intelligence, between two 
and three hundred public libraries have been estab- 
lished in different parts of the Republic, and the 
works selected for them are not confined to the 
rather limited literature of the national language. 
The press, so sedulously excluded in old colonial 
days, is fully recognized as a powerful lever in 
moving public thought. In addition to rival battal- 
ions of political papers, scientific and literary peri- 
odicals have their place, and in every town beyond 
the dignity of a village the daily is as essential as in 
any part of the world. On many of the newspapers 
and journals foreign talent is employed. In Buenos 
Ayres, English, French, German, and Italian resi- 
dents read their morning papers in their own 
language. 

Protestantism may properly be regarded as among 
the educational factors. It cannot be denied that 
a considerable degree of religious intolerance still 
exists, especially in those sections that have been 
little affected by foreign influences, and that such 
intolerance should continue to exist among a people 



304 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



educated for generations as the people of the La 
Plata have been is no more than should be reason- 
ably expected. But all that national legislation can 
do to remove such intolerance and yet maintain the 
national religion has been done. That such intol- 
erance should be roused to renewed activity by 
the passage of the law ejecting the priests from the 
public schools, and that it should be fomented by 
them, was only natural. The final result must be 
an increase of religious liberty. The subject of 
dissolving the relation between Church and State 
is being warmly agitated. The Provinces of Entre 
Rios and Santiago del Estero have already adopted 
constitutional amendments (the former in 1883, 
the latter in 1884), by which the relation between 
the Church and their Provincial Government is 
dissolved. It is probable that within a {Q\i years 
a similar amendment will be made to the National 
Constitution. But, so long as there is a state 
religion, the executive, and every officer under him, 
is sworn to support it. Those who cannot take 
such an oath are guaranteed the right to a peaceful 
enjoyment of their own peculiar religious belief 
so far as the Constitution and legislative enactments 
can give the guarantee. This right was granted 
by the first Argentine Constitution, and has never 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 305 

been revoked. Even during the Rosas supremacy 
resident foreigners were allowed to maintain their 
own forms of worship in the city of Buenos Ayres. 
Under the present form of government, wherever 
there are enough foreign residents to support a 
church of their own, they have the privilege of 
doing so, irrespective of creeds, and without even 
the Brazilian limit of toleration that debars Prot- 
estant places of worship from having steeples. In 
the city of Buenos Ayres resident English Episco- 
palians, Scotch Presbyterians, and German Protes- 
tants have houses of worship and maintain a 
regular ministry. The services are in the several 
languages of the worshippers. The American 
Methodists also have a commodious, well-located 
church, which is the property of the " Foreign Mis- 
sionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
of the United States." This society began work in 
the city during the Rosas administration, about the 
time that he took the title of Dictator. The license 
granted by the Dictator only conferred the privi- 
lege of preaching in the English language in the 
city of Buenos Ayres. Repeated discouragements 
caused the society to recall the missionary, but 
after an interim of a few years it resumed the work. 

In 1867 \\\t propaganda of its doctrines in the native 
u 26* 



3o6 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

tongue was begun, and has continued ever since. 
This society also owns a church and has a missionary- 
stationed at Rosario. The " South American Evan- 
gelization Society" has several stations in the Re- 
public, where it maintains the Anglican service for 
English residents, and in some of them holds ser- 
vices in the native language. Both of these so- 
cieties have schools in connection with their work 
of propagandism, and the missionaries and author- 
ized native members make itinerant tours, preaching 
wherever they find available openings. There is 
no legalized barrier against such ministrations. 

The British and Foreign Bible Society and the 
American Bible Society both have agents engaged 
in the dissemination of the Scriptures. In 1883 
the agents of the former disposed of 9320 volumes. 
The latter began work in 1864, and the agent then 
appointed* has had charge of it ever since. In the 
twenty years he has distributed in the La Plata 
countries 153,120 volumes, the proceeds of which 
amounted to 1^32,306 (gold). In i^^^ the vender's 
license tax was remitted to him because of the un- 
sectarian and benevolent aim of the society, and for 
the same reason, the following year his books were al- 
lowed to enter the port of Buenos Ayres free of duty. 
* Mr. (now Rev.) A. Milne. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



307 



CHAPTER XXI. 

CURRENCY AND COMMERCE. 

If there was a monetary Babel on this earth in 
the year 1880, there is no question as to its local 
habitat. From the moment one set foot on Argen- 
tine soil the money question was a perplexity. Not 
how to get money or how to spend it, but how to 
have it in a shape that it could be spent. With a 
pocketful of national money it was impossible to pay 
a street-car fare in the national capital, and with 
an unlimited supply of Buenos Ayrcs dollars, which 
alone would pay one's way to the post-office, he 
could not buy a postage-stamp in the city of Buenos 
Ayres; and with both it was questionable whether 
he could get a dinner outside of the Provincial 
limits of Buenos Ayres. Each locality had its 
prejudices and preferences with regard to what 
kinds of money were acceptable ; and to pay his 
way through the Republic the traveller needed to be 
supplied with fifteen or more different kinds, Nat- 



3o8 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

urally the money-changer was the most necessary 
and prosperous of men. 

Argentine statesmen were not ignorant of the ex- 
asperating and depressing nature of its monetary 
medley. We but quote the words of the chief ex- 
ecutive in affirming that " The prosperity of the 
country, in spite of such confusion, is due solely to 
its exuberant productiveness," It is easier to give 
an explanation than it was to find a solution of the 
difficulty. 

Before the union of the Provinces several of them 
had their own mints, and during the period of Pro- 
vincial wars there was naturally engendered a re- 
pugnance to the circulating medium of the sections 
with which any was at war. When the union was 
consummated the several Provinces ceded the right 
to coin money to the Federal Government, and the 
Provincial mints were destroyed, but their coin in 
circulation was not called in, and occasionally one 
of those old coins might still be encountered. 

The Federal Government had no funds at its 
command with which to establish a national specie 
currency, and therefore legalized the use of foreign 
coins; contenting itself for the time being with fixing 
the imaginary patacon (marked ^ as the Argentine 
standard of value. There was not, and never had 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



309 



been, such an existence. It was merely assumed 
as a standard of measurement. If the patacoji had 
had existence, its value would have been nearly 
three mills less than that of the dollar of the United 
States. Measured by the patacon, the Argentine 
Consrress fixed the lesjal tender value of 



The Peruvian sole 

" Spanish-American ounce 

" Gold doubloon 

" Brazilian 20 millreis 

" Chilian condor 

" English pound sterling 

*' French 20-franc piece 

" United States eagle 



^19-35 
15-75 
16.00 
10.00 

915 
4.88 
390 
9.72 



(Few of the latter got into circulation.) The 
silver dollar and its fractions of Chili, Peru, and 
Bolivia were also legalized. Bolivia hastened to 
coin its surplus silver for the accommodation of 
its neighbor, and Bolivian silver came to be pre- 
ferred to any other currency in the northern part of 
the Republic. For the accommodation of the Gau- 
che it was coined with the eye of a button on the 
reverse side. Used as a decoration of his costume, 
they were at once safe from the risk of burglars 
and an index of his wealth, — his patent of nobility. 
When he might wish to draw on his banker, he 



3IO LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

only needed to apply his belt-knife to its buttons. 
About 1880 the banks began to discount all coins 
that had been used as buttons, a measure that fore- 
stalled their extinction. 

In the Cuyo Provinces, Chilian silver mostly sup- 
plied the medium of trade. A number of private 
and Provincial banks were chartered from time to 
time in the several Provinces by authority of their 
legislatures, with the right to issue bills for circu- 
lation. These bills were issued of standards corre- 
sponding with the currency which was most pop- 
ular in the locality where each was located, and 
their issues were based upon the coin value of such 
standards. These issues usually exceeded public 
confidence, and hence were liable to be at a dis- 
count. Bolivian silver, although popular, became 
depreciated, and in consequence the paper repre- 
senting it was subject to an additional discount 
and fluctuation. Thus, to the confusion already ex- 
isting, was added the " hard gold paper dollar," 
"hard Bolivian silver paper dollar," etc., etc. The 
absurdity of the terms " hard paper," " hard gold 
paper," " hard silver paper," and the like, was lost 
sight of in the frequency of their recurrence. The 
embarrassment was further increased by giving to 
the unit of each the same name, peso, and expressing 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



311 



it by the same sign, $. For example, the national 
standard peso, or patacon, was about equal to one 
dollar of United States money, the Bolivian peso to 
sixty cents, and the Buenos Ayres peso to four 
cents. Sometimes a letter on the top of the sign 
indicates what peso was meant, thus : ^ (Peruvian), 
$^ (Bolivian), $^ (Fuertes,— National). The frac- 
tions of the several pesos were also all known as 
reals,* regardless of how many might be required to 
make a unit. Thus, in the national dollar (worth one 
dollar. United States) are ten reals ; in the Bolivian 
dollar (worth sixty cents. United States) there are 
eight. Hence, if both should be at par, — an un- 
known circumstance, — one real is worth ten cents 
and the other worth only seven and a half. 

The " Provincial Bank of Buenos Ayres" is the 
oldest banking institution in the Republic. It is 
based on the credit of the Province and is its fiscal 
agent. Its bills are legal tender in the payment of 
debts. It was founded in 1822, and was converted 
into a national bank in 1826. Ten years later its 
name was changed to the Casa de nioncda. It then 
had a circulation of ;^l 5,500,000, worth about four- 
teen cents to the dollar. In 1839 it had ^^24,000,000, 

* Pronounced Re-al\ 



312 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



worth five cents. In 1840, Rosas ordered ^70,000,000 
more, and they sank to three cents, but they rose 
again to eight cents. In 1846, Rosas ordered another 
issue of ^75,000,000, which brought them back to 
three cents. Its circulation then was ;^ 1 26,000,000. 
In 1853 an additional ;^9 1,000,000 was issued. Then 
the government destroyed ;^7,ooo,ooo. In 1859 
there was a new emission o-f ;^85, 000,000, and the 
value went down to four cents. In 1861 the civil 
war called for more, and an issue of ^100,000,000 
was made. In 1864 a law was passed prohibiting 
any further issue, and monthly burnings were re- 
sumed till ^55,000,000 were destroyed. In 1866 a 
law was passed making four cents the fixed value, 
and since that time the standard has not been 
changed. In 1883 its currency notes amounted to 
;^400,ooo,ooo, equal to ^16,000,000 gold. It had 
also about ^20,000,000 of gold notes, making its 
total circulation ;^36,0OO7O00. Its capital then was 
;^3 5, 000,000 gold, its deposits ^30,000,000, and its 
operations exceeded ^100,000,000. On the ist of 
January, 1885, its circulation was ;^27,ooo,poo pesos 
nacionales (national dollars). 

In 1872 the "National Bank" was chartered for 
twenty years by the National Congress, with an 
authorized capital of ^$29,000,000, of which the Na- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



313 



tional Government subscribed ^2,000,000 and pri- 
vate individuals ^$5, 000,000. Notwithstanding the 
legaHzation of foreign coins there had always been 
a scarcity of specie in the country, owing to the 
necessity of exporting large sums to pay the interest 
on foreign loans and the excess of imports over ex- 
ports. In 1873, when the imports amounted to 
;$7 1,000,000 and the exports only to ^45,000,000, 
the stringency of the money market culminated in 
a financial " panic" from which the country did not 
recover for several years, and the remaining stock 
of the newly-authorized bank did not find pur- 
chasers. Hence, in 1876, its authorized capital was 
reduced to ^8,000,000. 

In 1880, Congress again authorized its increase to 
;$20,000,000, and the National Government took 
^6,000,000. It is controlled by a board of directors, 
four of whom are chosen by the stockholders and 
four appointed by the President of the Republic 
and confirmed by Congress. It has a branch in 
each of the principal towns of the Province. Al- 
though the National Government is the largest 
stockholder, the bank is not founded on the na- 
tional credit or backed by the national resources. 
The following table illustrates the success of its 

operations : 

o 27 



314 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

1876. 1883. 

Authorized capital .... $8,000,000 ;^20,ooo,ooo 

Deposits 1,623,572 12,480,927 

Advances in account current . . 249,260 14,488,241 

Circulation 3.407>997 11,500,430 

Reserve 2,515,160 5,112,167 

On the 1st of January, 1885, its issue amounted to 
^24,000,000. Since 1883 no other banks save the 
National and the Provincial Bank of Buenos Ayres 
have had the right to issue bills for circulation. 

To bring order out of chaos, the Congress of 
1875 passed a "Uniform Currency" law, which pro- 
vided for the future emission of gold, silver, and 
copper coins with the peso fiierte nacioyial (hard 
national dollar, $) as its unit. This dollar was made 
to correspond in value with the French five-franc 
piece, equal to ^0.945 of the United States. The 
gold coins authorized by this law are the half colon, 
colon, and double colon, worth, respectively, ;^5, $10, 
and ^20. The silver coins — ^i, ^0.50, ;^o.20, ;^o.io. 
One- and two-cent coins are in copper. By a further 
act, passed in 188 1, all the old standards were abol- 
ished ; the establishment of two national mints au- 
thorized, one in the city of Buenos Ayres and the 
other in the city of Salta ; and the use of all foreign 
silver coins prohibited as soon as the national issue 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 21$ 

should amount to $4,000,000, and of all foreign gold 
coin when the national gold coinage should reach 
$8,000,000. The Congress of 1883 followed with 
the passage of a bill which required all banks to 
call in their circulation under the various standards 
and reissue in bills corresponding with the national 
standard, and to withdraw from circulation all bills 
of a less value than one national dollar. The gov- 
ernment reserved to itself the right to issue frac- 
tional currency to the amount of $8,000,000. The 
mint at Buenos Ayres was put into operation about 
the end of 1881, and by the 31st of March, 1883, 
had issued 5,755,257 coins with an aggregate value 
of $4,154,519.16. By the ist of October the issue 
had been swelled to the required $S,0OO,OOO. The 
whole issue for 1883 was $6,248,655. A part of 
this coinage was from bullion, but a considerable 
proportion was from old coins. The banks took up 
the coin as soon as issued, and held it in their vaults 
ready for the date at which they were required to 
withdraw their circulation and reissue. In commer- 
cial circles generally the disposition to co-operate 
with the government in effecting the change was 
manifest. The expediency of adopting a system of 
"National Banks" similar to that of the United 
States has been before Congress for the past three 



3i6 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

years, and the propriety of passing a law authorizing 
it earnestly advocated by President Roca. 

Possibly, although more complex, the Argentine 
monetary chaos has only been a degree worse than 
that which afflicted the United States during the 
ascendancy of the " wild-cat banks." 

As the country recovered from the effects of the 
financial crisis of 1873, the customs reports began 
again to show an excess of imports over the ex- 
ports in an increasing ratio. Although a consider- 
able proportion of this excess was materials for 
opening new industries and for works of public 
improvement, it no less surely drained the country 
of specie, and the result was another financial crisis. 
The run upon the two strongest banking institu- 
tions in the country, the " National Bank" and the 
" Provincial Bank of Buenos Ayres," by parties 
wishing foreign exchange, compelled them both to 
suspend specie payment, the former on the 8th and 
the latter on the 15th of January, 1885. On the day 
succeeding the failure of each, the National Govern- 
ment issued a decree relieving it from the necessity 
of redeeming its notes in gold for two years, and 
making them legal tender for all debts, public and 
interior. Thus the financial machinery is kept in 
motion, and there can be no reasonable doubt that 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



.317 



with prudence gained through experience and a 
little wholesome self-denial the nation " will go on 
in its great march of progress to the glorious future 
that awaits it." 

There is a close connection between a sound 
currency and an adequate revenue. The revenue 
of the Argentine nation is made up from a variety 
of sources, and, according to official reports, has 
always had a hopeful future. It has been steadily 
increasing since the consolidation of the nation. In 
1870 the entire revenue from all sources amounted 
to ;^ 1 5,307,709. In the fourteen years from 1870 to 
1883 the aggregate annual return had doubled, and 
in the latter year the total revenue was ^30,703, 348. 
The estimates for 1885 look beyond ^35,000,000. 
With this steady growth it is not strange that a 
rainbow hue spans Argentina's financial horizon. 
The national expenditure, that always is in excess 
of its income, is the dark background of this bow 
of promise. It must not be forgotten, however, that 
the ambitious young nation inherited an onerous 
public debt, and has struggled onward with it 
upon its shoulders without any hint of " repudia- 
tion." During the present and the last administra- 
tions the subject has been continuously agitated for 

consolidating, funding, and in some measure liqui- 

27* 



3i8 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

dating the public debt,' and to so manage public 
finances as " to enable us to carry on numberless 
works of public utility without burdening future gen- 
erations with such debts as have been handed down 
to us, and were contracted to defray the expenses 
of wars abroad and internecine strife." Instead of 
diminishing, the public debt continues to increase, 
but we are assured that this " is wholly due to the 
excessive liberality of the British people in lending 
us money." The money borrowed is applied to 
works of public utility. As a rule these works are 
made a source of national revenue, as in the case of 
railroads and telegraphs. Previous to 1870, Argen- 
tine bonds had never been above 70 per cent, in 
the London market. In December, 1881, they first 
reached par, and in 1883 sold at from i^ per cent, 
to 234! per cent, premium. 

The increase in the public debt is indicated by the 
following summary: 

1881. 1882. 1883. 

Foreign . . . ^57,781,632 ^58,987,152 ^80,627,581 
Interior . . . 24,224,659 43,439,475 25,849,730 



Total . . ^82,006,291 ^102,426,627 ^106,477,311 

Its eagerness to develop the national resources 
and open up routes of intercommunication induced 
the Congress of 1883 to authorize an additional 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 319 

loan of ^30,000,000, which, with the remainder of 
unsold bonds previously authorized, swells the 
national debt in 1S85 to ^142,000,000. By the 
terms of the bill, one-third of the additional ^30,- 
000,000 of bonds was to be put upon the market 
in each of the years 1884-85-86. Accordingly the 
proposed ^10,000,000 was put into the English 
market at 84 per cent. 

The interest on the public debt in 1865 was 
;^3,22i,i25; in 1875 it was 58,563,498, and in 1885 
is nearly ^ 12,000,000. That is, more than one-third 
of the revenue is now required to pay the interest 
on the national debt. The payments are promptly 
made, and hence its bonds find a fair market. It 
is confidently expected that the increased revenue 
soon to be derived from the sale of public lands and 
from new industries, as well as the more advanta- 
geous prosecution of the old industries, will extin- 
guish both interest and principal within a few years. 

The present revenue is made up from a variety 
of sources, chief among which are import and 
export duties, warehouse fees, stamped paper, direct 
taxes, post-offices, telegraphs, light-house dues, 
public lands, forests, railways, and bank stock. 

While each of these sources yields a no insig- 
nificant item to the grand total, the tax upon foreign 



320 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



commerce, in the form of import and export duties, 
yields the greatest revenue. There are not want- 
ing statesmen who regard such a tax as ultimately 
detrimental, and some even echo " free-trade" sen- 
timents with modifications ; but it has not yet been 
brought within the general railge of thought to 
doubt that for many years to come this must be 
an important, if not the important, source of rev- 
enue. There has, however, always been a tax on 
Argentine commerce — more onerous than any Con- 
gress would propose — that it was at length resolved 
to abolish. This heaviest of all taxes was the dis- 
advantages against which it labored from the nature 
of the river which is its door of commerce. 

Throughout the colonial period it was the policy 
of Spain to keep commerce away from the La 
Plata. For a quarter of a century thereafter, with 
one brief exception, it was also the policy of the 
native administration. And when the principle of 
exclusion was buried, a multitude of interests clam- 
ored for attention and for the outlay of larger sums 
than were available. As opening the Rio de la 
Plata to commerce signalized the acquisition of 
independence, and the building of the Buenos Ayres 
piers declared that tyranny should no longer con- 
trol its waters, the port of the Rio Chuela indicates 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 32 1 

that Argentina's future conquests lie in the avenues 
of peace and fraternity. 

What the future of Argentine commerce will be, 
with its added facilities and the increasing proba- 
bilities of additional production and development, 
may be inferred from what it has already become in 
spite of all disadvantages. Its foreign commerce 

In 18S1 amounted to . . . ^110,198,753 

In 1S82 " .... 117,711,270 

In 1883 " .... 140,604,804 

The aggregate of imports have usually been 
largely in excess of the exports. In 1870 articles 
of unproductive consumption made up 88 per cent, 
of all imports. In 1876 they were 88.4, and in 
1882 only 77.8 per cent. The tendency of the 
nation to industrial enterprises is indicated by the 
increasing proportion of imports of this class. In 
1876 they constituted only 11.6 per cent, of the 
whole. In 1882 they had increased to 22, in 1883 
to 24 per cent. This is more fully illustrated by 
the following comparisons : 

1S82. 1883. 

Fabricated articles . . ^36,671,553 ^44,208,467 
Unfabricated . . . 11,090,431 16,964,788 

Industrial raw material . 6,616,350 10,910,953 

Machinery .... 5>738>385 6,959,945 

Fuel 1,129,320 6,391,57s 



322 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

In 1883, Great Britain owned 34 per cent, of all 
the ships that entered the port of Buenos Ayres, 
France had 16 per cent., 13 per cent, carried the 
Argentine flag, 9 per cent, the Itahan, 9 per cent, the 
Uruguayan, 4 per cent, the Brazilian, and 2 per cent, 
the American. 

While a portion of the Argentine commerce is 
through the medium of the time-honored " winged 
ships," by far the greater part scorns so slow a 
servant, and leaves to it only the carriage of the 
bulkiest freights, such as lumber, coal, salt, wool, 
and hides. In 1884, 75 per cent, of all freights were 
carried in steamships. Great Britain has 7 lines of 
steamships trading regularly with the ports of the 
Plata, France has 3, Belgium 2, Spain i. Five hun- 
dred and twenty-eight steam-ships discharged cargo 
at Buenos Ayres during the year 1883. Of these 
222 were from England, 113 from France, yj from 
Germany, 70 from Italy, 32 from Belgium, and 14 
from Spain. There is not an important port in 
Europe, on the Atlantic or Mediterranean, that is 
not regularly connected by steam with the metrop- 
olis of the Plata. A large proportion of these 
ships stop at Brazilian ports, and thus give the 
empire the advantage of frequent means of com- 
munication. Of all the great nations aspiring to 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 323 

a share in this traffic, only the United States has 
failed to call to its aid the service of the " chained 
giant." 

The fastest steamers make the passage from 
Europe in from 26 to 28 days. The fastest sailing 
vessels from the United States require 60 days. 
In the summer of 1884 the bark " Amazon," with 
the help of a steam-tug, made it in 40 days. 

The share in this commerce which each nation 
controls is not in the exact ratio of its shipping. 
In 1876, Great Britain controlled 195^ per cent, of 
the whole, 22 per cent, in 1882, and 26.2 per cent, 
in 1883. France controlled 22^, 23^, and 26 
per cent, during the same years. In 1882 the 
United States controlled 8, and in 1883 only 6 per 
cent. As she only had 2 per cent, of the ship- 
ping, and that of an inferior carrying capacity, the 
difference between her percentage of ships and of 
trade represents the European embargo on Ameri- 
can commerce. 

Woven fabrics, hardware, and coal head the list 
of England's contributions to meet Argentine wants ; 
lumber, agricultural implements, and kerosene that 
of the United States. In 1884, England sold to the 
Argentine Republic (in round numbers) ;^22,ooo,ooo 
of goods, and the United States sold to it ;^4,ooo,ooo 



224 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

worth. Even in lumber, Great Britain is our most 
formidable rival. 

Many minor articles of American manufacture 
are already known and favorably received. Many 
others would meet with favor if introduced. A 
preference for American goods is expressed, and it 
is said that the best cottons sold under British 
names are from the looms of the United States. 

The Argentines are a music-loving and a musi- 
cally-inclined people. A musical instrument of 
some kind is an indispensable accessory of every 
refined home. The piano and guitar enjoy prece- 
dence. So universal is the former that a refusal 
to play or a declaration of inability is met with the 
incredulous exclamation, " An Argentine, and not 
play !" France long held the monopoly of sup- 
plying musical instruments; but at length the 
United States struck a note for the Argentine ear, 
and in 1882 the first invoice of pianos was sent 
there. Already several other orders have been 
filled, and the sweet tone of the American instru- 
ment wins it preferment. The first consignment 
was but the admission of the trunk of one more 
Yankee elephant, in whose rear stands a host of 
outstretched probosces. 

European dealers give to Argentine retailers a 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 325 

credit of six months on all bills of goods sold 
to them. American dealers require cash on de- 
livery. American dealers receive their orders by- 
mail, making a delay of five or six weeks (or if by 
cable, by a circuitous route), and the goods are sent 
by sailing vessels requiring from sixty to ninety days 
for the passage. European dealers receive their 
orders by cable, and the goods are delivered at the 
port of Buenos Ayres within thirty or thirty-five 
days. 

The commerce of Argentina with the several 
countries of Europe is mostly effected through 
branch-houses established in the cities of the Re- 
public by business firms in those countries. That 
with the United States, wholly through agents to 
whom consignments are made, or on special orders 
sent to manufacturers or agents by business firms 
there, who have no personal interest beyond their 
commission on sales. 

American commerce labors under the further dis- 
advantage of having no direct medium for transmit- 
ting funds. British, French, Italian, and Belgian 
traders all draw direct on banking-houses doing 
business at both ends of their trade circuit. The 
American must not only depend on a foreign ship 
to carry himself and his wares, but must also pay 



226 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

roundly for the privilege of sending his remittances 
through a foreign channel. No point in the United 
States is known in the Argentine or neighboring 
Republics as a money basis. Remittances are usu- 
ally made through some banking house in England. 
Bills of exchange on Baring Brothers & Co. and 
Brown Brothers & Co. are most readily negotiated. 

Of the foreign banks doing business in the Argen- 
tine Republic, " The London and River Plate Bank 
(limited)" is the oldest. It was established in 1863 
with an authorized capital of ;^ 10,000,000, of which 
^7,500,000 is paid up, and it has a reserve fund of 
^775,000. In 1881 it built a banking-house in 
Buenos Ayres which cost ^43,000 and is one of 
the finest business houses in the city. It does all 
branches of banking business, except issuing bills 
for circulation, and has branches established in 
Rosario and Cordoba. 

** The Bank of Italy and the River Plate" ranks 
next in seniority, and has a capital of ;^ 1, 500,000, 
with a reserve fund of ;^ 160,000. Both of these 
banks pay an annual dividend of about ten per cent. 

" The English Bank of the River Plate (limited)" 
was established in 1882, with an authorized capital 
of ;^7, 500,000, of which ^5,000,000 is paid up. 

It is not the fault of the Argentine Republic that 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 327 

the United States occupies the fifth place in its com- 
mercial list, or that the fraternal bonds are not drawn 
more closely. It has never wearied of referring to 
her as its " great example." It has lost no oppor- 
tunity of expressing its high appreciation of the 
American people. It has entertained every repre- 
sentative of and every proposition from the nation 
with respect, and, while struggling for a foothold 
among nations, reached a beckoning, an imploring 
hand to the commerce of " the elder sister among 
republics." And from the hour when steam navi- 
gation began to take the precedence, the continual 
inquiry has been, " When can we have steam com- 
munication with the United States?" During Sar- 
miento's administration, the Argentine Congress 
voted a standing subsidy of twenty thousand dollars 
a year to any company that would place a line of 
steamships from Buenos Ayres to any port in the 
United States. In his message of June 19, 1878, 
President Avellenada asked Congress to increase the 
subsidy to twenty-five thousand dollars, and it was 
done without hesitation. Both rulers and people 
have continuously expressed the most lively interest 
in any project that would draw closer the com- 
mercial and social ties between the two countries. 
While the Roach line of steamers was still run- 



328 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

ning between New York and Rio de Janeiro, a 
proposition was made to extend their route to 
Buenos Ayres, which was hailed with delight in 
that city, and the belief expressed that if it were 
so extended, and could live one year, its success 
would be assured. The project met a spirited op- 
position from a British steamship company, and 
instead of extending its route the line was eventually 
wholly withdrawn. The rival company then sent 
one ship per month from Rio de Janeiro to New 
York and back. But the return trip was soon dis- 
continued, and the round trip from Liverpool to 
Rio de Janeiro with European manufactures, thence 
to New York with coffee, and thence back to 
Liverpool in ballast substituted. Still further to the 
disadvantage of American shipping, the same com- 
pany put steamers into the Buenos Ayres trade to 
carry freights direct to New York. Had these ships 
then returned to New York, they would in a measure 
have formed the desired link of closer communica- 
tion. But they also make the " round trips." In 
1883 this line carried one-half of the entire ship- 
ments sent from Buenos Ayres to the United States, 
valued at ^1,012,109.93, ^^^ out of fifty-nine saihng 
vessels from the United States only eleven got 
return freights. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 329 

When the " Congress of American Nations" was 
called to meet in Washington, in 1882, to discuss 
matters of interest pertaining to the American conti- 
nent, Argentina promptly appointed its delegates, 
rejoicing that at last something might be done to 
establish the longed-for bonds of fellowship. The 
announcement, in 1884, that three commissioners had 
been appointed by the United States Government to 
visit the several countries of South America and as- 
certain in what way closer commercial relations might 
be established was hailed in Buenos Ayres with 
enthusiasm; and when, in May, 1885, the Commis- 
sion arrived in the Argentine capital, it was received 
with genuine cordiality. President Roca, person- 
ally and in behalf of the nation, expressed an earnest 
desire for closer commercial relations, but said that 
it is useless to expect it without transportation 
facilities, and added that the Argentine nation stands 
ready to give as much financial aid to any steamship 
company that will sail vessels regularly between the 
ports of the two countries as the United States will 
give. He concluded by expressing the hope that 
the Congress of the United States will do something 
at once. 

In the mean time the ten thousand three hundred 

miles of steamship route from New York to the 
28* 



230 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

mouth of the Plata has been reduced to seven thou- 
sand miles by the establishment in 1883 of a line 
of three American steamers from New York to Rio 
de Janeiro, calling at intermediate ports. All are 
new steamers of two thousand tons register, and 
have good accommodations for passengers. The 
line is subsidized by the Brazilian Government. 
The " Finance" made the first trip, and arrived in 
Rio de Janeiro on February 27, 1884. The "Ad- 
vance" put in its appearance there on the nth of 
April following, and the " Reliance" on June 9. 
They have since made regular trips. Passengers 
going by them readily make connection with Eu- 
ropean steamships for La Plata ports. 

My journey home by way of Rio de Janeiro, in- 
cluding a day in the most beautiful city south of 
the equator, occupied exactly the same length of 
time as the outward-bound journey from Liverpool 
to Montevideo. Not a storm ruffled nor fog 
shrouded the mirror-like surface of the ocean during 
the thirty days. The smiles of old Atlantic in 
coming up contrasted so pleasantly with the con- 
tinued frowns during that double crossing, that, 
aside from all principles of loyalty and patriotism, 
aside from the satisfaction of sailing under the 
"star-spangled banner," aside from all thoughts of 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 331 

commerce or republicanism, I could heartily sym- 
pathize with the hope that "the two most enter- 
prising and progressive republics in the world" may 
soon be united by steam and clasped more firmly 
by electric bands. 



332 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



CHAPTER XXII. 

EPITOME OF ARGENTINE HISTORY. 

The Province of Buenos Ayres led in the war 
of revolution by a declaration of indepen- 
dence made in ..... . i8io 

The declaration of independence of the Span- 
ish Provinces of La Plata was made by a 
General Congress of delegates from the 
several Provinces, met at Tucuman July 9, 18 16 

Their independence was acknowledged by the 
United States 1822 

Independence acknowledged by Great Britain . 1823 
" " " Spain . . 1825 

Constitution adopted for the Republic of La 
Plata 1825 

General Rivadavia, President . . . 1825-27 

Revolutionary symptoms caused President Ri- 
vadavia to resign . . . . -July, 1827 

General Derrogo made Governor of Buenos 
Ayres July, 1827 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 333 

General Lavalla defeated and succeeded Der- 
rogo 1827 

Juan Manuel de Rosas defeated and succeeded 
Lavalla as Governor of Buenos Ayres . , 1827 

Juan Manuel de Rosas ruled the Argentine 
Provinces under title of " President" . 1827-35 

Under title of " Dictator" . . . 1835-52 

Defeated in battle . . . February 2, 1852 

Convention of San Nicholas adopted a Consti- 
tution for the Argentine Confederation, 

May 31, 1852 

General Vicente Lopez was made Provisional 
Governor of Buenos Ayres and chief of the 
"Argentine Confederation." 

General Justo Jose de Urquiza defeated and 
superseded Lopez . . , June 23, 1852 

General Urquiza then assumed supreme power 
as "Dictator of the Argentine Confedera- 
tion." 

The Province of Buenos Ayres rebelled against 
General Urquiza and defeated him in battle, 

September 11, 1852 

The Province of Buenos Ayres maintained its 
independence of the "Argentine Confedera- 
tion" from .... September II, 1852 

The city and Province of Buenos Ayres con- 



334 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



tinued in a state of anarchy. Eleven "gov- 
ernments" succeeded each other within a 
single year. 

Dr. Valentine Alsina, Governor of Buenos 
Ayres 1857 

General Bartolome Mitre, Governor of Buenos 

Ayres 1859 

General Justo Jose de Urquiza, Dictator 
("President") of Argentine Confederation 1852-60 

Dr. Don Santiago Durqui, "President" . . i860 

War between Buenos Ayres and Argentine 
Confederation. 

Buenos Ayrean troops, commanded by General 
Mitre, victorious. President Durqui fled, and 
General Mitre was proclaimed Provisional 
President of the Argentine Confederation. 

The Province of Buenos Ayres and the Ar- 
gentine Confederation were united under 
the name of the "Argentine Republic," or 
"Argentine Nation," and a Federal Consti- 
tution promulgated ..... 1862 

PRESIDENTS OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 

General Don Bartolome Mitre. . . 1862-68 
General Don Domingo Francisco Sarmi- 
ento 1868-74 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



335 



Dr. Don Nicolas Avellaneda 
General Don Julio A, Roca 



1874-80 
1880-86 



TREATIES OF BOUNDARIES. 



With Bolivia . 
" Paraguay 
" Chili 
" Brazil, pending 



. 1876 

February 3, 1876 

October 12, 1881 

January i, 1885 



Table of Capital Cities of the Argentine Republic, 



Names of Prov- 
inces. 



Names of 
Cities. 



Longitudcl 

\V. from South lati 
Green- tude 
wich. 



When 
found- 
ed. 



Popula- 
tion by 
census 

of 1882. 



Buenos Ayres . . . 

Catamarca 

Cordoba 

Corrientes 

EntreRios . . . . 

Jujiii 

Mendoza 

Rioja 

Salta 

San Juan 

San Luis 

Santa Fe 

Santiago del Es 

tero 

Tucuman 



Federal Capi- 
tal — Buenos 
Ayres 

La Plata , 

Catamarca 

Cordoba , 

( Concepcion") 
\ del Uru-^ 

(. guay . . j 
Tujui . . . 
Mendoza . 
Rioja. . . 
Salta . . . 
San Juan . 
San Luis . 
Santa F^ . 
Santiago del 
tero . . 
Tucuman . 



34° 36' 35' 



65° 54' 44" 
64° 10' 2" 
58° 52' 50" 



65° 20' 39" 
"" 45' 39"' 
67° i'i6"| 
65° 31' 7"i 
68° 35' 30". 
"" i5'4o"| 
60° 40' 

64° 22' 15" 
65° 17' 30" 



27° 27' 30' 



24- 47' 20- 
31° 31' 3.' 
33° 25' 45' 
31° 39' 



!7° 46' 
>6° 50' 



1535 
.1580 
1882 



1778 



295,000 

*20,000 
39.651 



336 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



Table of Arras and Population in the Argentine Re- 
public. 



Names of Provinces. 



Population in 
1882 as per 
Gove r nment 
estimate. 



Popula- 
tion to 



Buenos Ayres 
Catamaica 
Cordoba . . 
Corrientes . . 
Entre Rios . 
Jujui .... 
Mendoza . . 
Rioja .... 
Salta .... 
Santa Fe . . 
San Juan . . 
San Luis . . 
Santiago . . 
Tucuman . . 
Territories . 

Total . . . 



83,121 

92,764 
83,498 
48,369 
43.938 
32,259 
60,139 
42,778 
60,378 
45,291 
40,157 
48,997 
42,063 
25,199 
415,731 



907,000 

102,000 

320,000 

204,000 

188,000 

66,000 

99,000 

87,000 

167,000 

187,000 

91,000 

76,000 

158,000 

1 78,000 

112,000 



10 — 

1 + 

3 + 

4 + 
4 + 

2 + 

1 + 

2 + 
2 + 
4 + 

2 + 
1 + 

3 + 
7 + 



1,168,682 



2,942,000 



Classification of the population of the Argentine 
Republic by nationality. 

Argentines 2,578,255 



Italians 
French 
Spanish 
German 
English 
Various 

Total 



123,641 
55,432 
59,022 
8,616 
17,950 
99,084 

2,942,000 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



337 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



BOLIVIAN LA PLATA. 



The valleys separating the several ranges of the 
Argentine highlands afford the most accessible en- 
trances to the Bolivian Provinces of Tarija, Cocha- 
baniba, Chuquisaca and Potosi, which, with the 
southern part of the Province of Santa Cruz, — an 
area larger than the three combined, — are drained 
by the affluents of Rio de La Plata. This portion 
of Bolivia has always found the ports on these rivers 
its most convenient medium of foreign commerce. 
Cochabamba compares in size with Maine and in 
general climate with Louisiana, although it has 
every variety of temperature, with perpetual snow 
on the mountain summits and cacao, palms, and 
sugar-canes in the valleys. The area of Chuquisaca 
is about equal to that of Maine and Louisiana com- 
bined, and of Potosi, to Wisconsin. These are all 
on the elevated plateau of the Andes, traversed in 

all directions with abrupt mountain- ranges which 
Y w 29 



338 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



constitute one of the richest metalHferous districts yet 
known to man. Its nature is well expressed in the 
name Potosi, an eruption of silver. The tops of the 
numerous ridges in this district have been literally 
honey-combed with mines, and the rich veins are 
now followed more laboriously to greater depths. 
From 1545, when these mines were discovered, to 
1789 they had yielded a billion dollars in silver, and 
still yield annually about one and a quarter millions. 
Their products, run into blocks like huge clock 
weights, are mostly shipped to England from Ro- 
sario and Buenos Ayres, whither they are conveyed 
by overland passage. " The London and River Plate 
Bank" has a remunerative business in this traffic. 

No portion of South America contributed more 
than this to the aggrandizement of Spain, and none 
suffered more during the war of independence. It 
was the first to declare itself against Spanish au- 
thority and the last from which the Spanish minions 
were expelled. The first and the last bloodshed in 
that fifteen years' war watered its soil. So resolute 
were the inhabitants in the prosecution of their 
purpose that the women armed themselves in the 
defence of their homes and " for the sacred cause of 
liberty." Hemmed in on all sides by rival nations, 
that have as often shown themselves actuated by 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 339 

petty jealousy as by brotherly love, Bolivia has had 
as much difficulty in maintaining its independence 
as in securing it. It has also had less opportunity 
to receive the impulse of progress from the outer 
world, and in consequence of its isolation has re- 
mained more intolerant of foreign thought, more 
illiterate, and more bigoted in religion. 

A few years ago, the demand in Europe for agri- 
cultural fertilizers proved that the guano beds of 
Western Bolivia, Peru, and Chili were a more avail- 
able source of profit than their mines. The result 
was a war between these nations, in which the 
coveted guano beds were the real apple of discord. 
In the Chili-Peruvian war, Chili claimed that Bolivia 
was the tool of Peru, that the latter nation was the 
door-keeper over Bolivia's single port of entry on 
the Pacific, and that so long as she remained so 
Chili could not be safe. With this plausible reason- 
ing, backed by her power of arms, she seized Bolivia's 
one desert Province bordering on the ocean, with a 
ten years' proviso, and in 1883 closed the war. In 
the mean time the United States, the Argentine Re- 
public, and Brazil had unavailingly offered friendly 
mediation. On the cessation of hostilities. Chili 
exacted a tax of fifty per cent, on all merchandise 
carried through it to Bolivia, as Peru had formerly 



340 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

done. Brazil hastened to offer to open the Madeira 
River for the commerce of Bolivia, and to make it 
navigable, and charge no kind of duty on goods 
forwarded thereby. The Argentine Republic also 
offered the free use of its ports to its land-locked 
neighbor, and passed such legislative enactments as 
to make the offer effective. 

During the year 1883, in which the Chili-Bolivio- 
Peruvian war was closed so disastrously to Bolivia, 
the imports of that country were but little more than 
six million dollars, and, notwithstanding the dis- 
turbed state of the country, were equalled by its ex- 
port in silver alone. All other exports during the 
year were a little more than half that sum. Nearly 
all of this export reached its foreign market through 
the Argentine Republic. By muleback it followed 
the old route from Potosi to Jujui, a distance of 
three hundred and ten miles ; thence by muleback, 
carts, and the railroad to Rosario; thence by the 
Parana River. 

The Argentine legislation of 1883, with regard to 
Bolivian commerce, resulted in granting to mer- 
chandise intended for Bolivia the right to pass 
through Argentine territory free of all duty. The 
railroads and transportation companies placed their 
warehouses and transportation routes at its service 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 34 1 

at one-half the rate charged on goods to be used in 
Argentine territory. Still further to reduce the cost 
of transit, government placed post-houses along the 
carrcta route from Rosario to La Paz, the capital of 
Bolivia, and an agency was established at Rosario, 
with a large number of mules and bullock carts, for 
this traffic. The caravans that carry merchandise to 
Bolivia return with its precious metals and other 
articles of export. It was in connection with these 
events in Argentine legislation that the President of 
Bolivia urged her Congress to charter a railroad 
from the Bolivian capital to connect with the 
Northern Central Argentine Railroad at Jujui. 
Thus, partly through a guano war, the " chimerical" 
Andine Railway, connecting the mouth of the La 
Plata with the Gulf of Mexico, becomes a degree 
less mythical. Bolivia also immediately set about 
the exploration of the Pilcomayo River, and found 
that through it she has an available water thorough- 
fare from near the centre of her territory to the 
Atlantic, a discovery that doubly tends to direct her 
commerce southward. It is highly probable, there- 
fore, that not only the trade of these five Provinces, 
formerly a part of the Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, 
but of all Bolivia will find its way through the 

mouth of the La Plata, 

29* 



342 LA PLATA COUNTRIES. 

Comparatively a small proportion of the inhab- 
itants of Bolivia are of unmixed Spanish descent, or 
use the Spanish language. The mass of the people 
are the descendants of the old Inca nation who 
dwelt here before the discovery of America, speak 
their language, and retain their frugal, industrious 
habits and simplicity of life, maintained with a 
species of silent stoicism, possibly the inheritance 
of generations of hopeless servitude and wrong. 



PART III. 



HISTORICAL RETROSPECT. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION. 

Four hundred years ago Spain and Portugal were 
among the most powerful nations of Europe. The 
greed of gold was a Spanish mania, while commerce 
was the ruling passion of Portugal, as it is now of 
her old-time ally, England. These national manias 
for gold and commerce impelled to adventures on 
unknown seas to effect an easier passage for the 
commerce of India, and the gold-dust of Africa 
was poured into the lap of Portugal. With in- 
flamed cupidity, Spain increased her swarm of 
adventurers, literally ready to go beyond earth's 
remotest bounds. 

The Papal throne was then at the zenith of its 
power, and he who wore the triple crown claimed 
the whole world, as God's vicegerent, and kings 
meekly laid their necks beneath his foot in token 
that all were tributary to him. Hence, when Colum- 
bus had demonstrated the fact that land existed in 

345 



246 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

the west, the faithful Ferdinand made haste to secure 
the Pope's sanction and confirmation of his title to 
that already discovered and what might yet be 
found. This confirmation Pope Alexander VI. 
readily granted. But, while it was true that Spain 
was the right arm of the Papal power, it was no 
less true that Portugal was its equally effective 
left arm ; and, in order not to prejudice a grant of 
the right of discovery that had already been made 
to Portugal, the astute vicegerent drew a line from 
north to south through both poles, and granted 
to Spain all lands lying west of it that had been 
or might be discovered, while those lying to the 
east of it should belong to Portugal. The map on 
which Alexander VI. drew this famous line was still 
preserved in the Borgia library at Veletri in 1797. 
Southey assures us that if his holiness had also 
been solicited for a share by his faithful son, the 
King of France, he would as readily have drawn two 
lines as one. The attempt to secure a share in the 
prize at a later period by force of arms was but 
indifferently successful. 

Fortified by the Papal sanction, Spain sent Co- 
lumbus on his second voyage. Subsequently nav- 
igators from the rival powers, directing their 
course southward, touched the mainland of the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. ^47 

continent of South America at various points, un- 
til in 1815, Solis, sailing under the Spanish crown, 
entered the river which now bears the name La 
Plata. Near the same time a Portuguese fleet on 
its way to India, driven from its course, entered 
the same stream. Although both powers acknowl- 
edged the absolute and infallible nature of the 
Papal authority, each was willing to so twist the 
line the Pope had drawn as to secure to himself the 
advantages of these discoveries. As subsequent 
expeditions revealed more clearly the importance 
of the territory, the more difficult did it become to 
apply the straight line drawn by Alexander VI. on 
paper to the inequalities of the earth's surface. 
When wars had been waged, the succeeding truce 
left the subject in dispute no nearer an adjustment. 
When treaties were made for the settlement of the 
boundary question, and the commissioner of either 
power was sent out, the commissioner of the other 
power was in no manner certain of making his ap- 
pearance. The earliest and most reliable description 
of the country and people north of the Parana 
River was written by Azara, the Spanish commis- 
sioner, who vainly waited there twenty years for 
his Portuguese colleague. After three centuries of 
heart-burnings, bloodshed, and broken treaties the 



348 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



boundary question was no nearer a solution. So 
unwieldy a thing did a Pope's line prove to be ! 
By the treaty of Ildefonso, the two powers mutually 
waived any advantage that might accrue to either 
by that grant. 

The Spanish conquest of Peru and the discovery 
of gold and silver in the Andean regions stimulated 
efforts to explore the interior of the La Plata terri- 
tory, in order to secure an easier transit to Europe 
for the spoils of Peru than the routes by Panama 
and Cape Horn. This led to the establishment of 
colonies or supply stations along the course of the 
great river, and Buenos Ayres, Santo Espiritu, Santa 
Fe, Concepcion, and Asuncion were successively es- 
tablished, and went through all the vicissitudes that 
have attended the planting of colonies throughout 
America. Being at the point deemed most acces- 
sible for the overland part of the traffic to transfer 
itself to the water thoroughfare, Asuncion became 
the capital of the Spanish possessions in the La 
Plata valley eighty-three years before the landing 
of the Pilgrim leathers on Plymouth Rock. 

It has often been asserted that Spain destroyed a 
higher type of civilization in the New World than 
she established. When South America was invaded 
by Europeans the Inca nation represented the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 349 

highest type of civilization on the continent. Its 
seat of government was at Cuzco, one degree north 
and two degrees west of the head-waters of the Ber- 
mejo River. 

In the two or three centuries preceding the advent 
of the white man, by a peaceful policy within its 
borders and wars of conquest around them, the 
Inca dynasty had extended its authority over tribe 
after tribe of the aborigines, until the empire ex- 
tended from 4° south latitude, eighteen hundred 
miles along the Pacific coast and eastward over the 
Andean table-lands. Its eastern limit is not known, 
but its fossil history, the Quichua language, is still 
the vernacular of the peasantry throughout Bolivia, 
as also in the Argentine Provinces of Mendoza, San 
Juan, San Luis, Rioja, Salta, Tucuman, and Santiago 
del Estero, — a patient, laborious class, whose features 
show their unmistakable Indian origin. It is, how- 
ever, conjectured that the presence of the Quichua 
language and race in the last two Provinces named 
may have resulted rather from tribes who escaped 
eastward at the time of or after the Spanish conquest 
than as proving this remote extension of the empire. 

The Inca nation, which has left monuments of 
architecture, aqueducts, and causeways that excite 
the astonishment of modern engineers, and that had 
30 



350 ^A PLATA COUNTRIES 

brought agriculture to a higher degree of perfection 
than South America has since known, consisted of 
two distinct classes, which overlay, included, ab- 
sorbed, and more or less perfectly assimilated all 
tribal differences. These were the nobility and the 
peasantry. The nobility consisted wholly of those 
of Inca, or royal blood. To them all learning, cul- 
ture, authority, and applied executive ability were 
confined. The government was an absolute des- 
potic theocracy, but in its application was entirely 
patriarchal. The whole great nation of working- 
people were a family whose every interest was 
guarded by the crown, and whose every want was 
provided for by its forethought. All enterprises, 
even the minutiae of family details, were executed 
by the Inca through the nobility, who were all his 
kinsmen. The cultivation of the earth and the 
storage of the harvest, the care of the flocks and 
manufacture of clothing were conducted by the 
same unvarying thoughtfulness of the ruling class. 
One-third of the earth's produce was set aside for 
the maintenance of their religion, one-third for the 
support of the royal family, and one-third for the 
people. Storehouses were provided for these sev- 
eral divisions of the produce, and from the people's 
store each family drew its allotment according to 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 351 

its numbers. The aged and the sick were provided 
from the common store. The labor system was as 
equitably maintained. Each had his allotted labor, 
and all went to work under their noble overseers at 
the specified time. None were suffered to be idle, 
none were overworked, and none were allowed to 
suffer want. Newly-conquered tribes were incor- 
porated into the same general plan, and soon be- 
came an integral portion of the empire. Prescott 
says of the Inca system that, while it precluded the 
possibility of physical want, it was of all kinds of 
government the least adapted to develop a thought- 
ful people, capable of self-government. Thus, the 
Spaniards found in the northwestern border of the 
La Plata basin a nation of domesticated, skilful, do- 
cile laborers, ready trained to their hands ; and had 
they been as humane as the nobility they displaced, 
their memory would be less execrable. 

East of the Paraguay and Parana Rivers was the 
Guarani nation, the most numerous, most docile, 
and most intelligent branch of the great Tupi family 
of Indians that, with many tribal distinctions, was 
scattered throughout Brazil. The Guaranis had 
settled homes, and subsisted chiefly by agriculture. 
Being a domestic people, they had made some 
advance in the arts of civilized life, but had nothing 



352 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



corresponding to the elaborate organization of the 
Incas. The government of each tribe was purely 
patriarchal, and executed only through the loving 
allegiance of a simple, affectionate people for their 
chiefs. As no great, ruling mind had been developed 
among them or had taken possession of them, there 
was not found among them the artificial advance- 
ment called civilization. The historian Southey 
says that to compare them with the surrounding 
tribes is to compare civilization with barbarism ; but 
to compare them with the great nation of the West 
is to compare the darkness of midnight with the 
effulgence of noonday. The friendly disposition of 
the Guaranis determined the location of Asuncion, 
the first Spanish capital of the La Plata, and secured 
its pre-eminence during the first century of Spanish 
occupation. 

Between the Inca and the Guarani nations, occu- 
pying the great central plains, were warlike, roving 
bands of Indians, whom the peculiar civilizing 
agencies of sword and rapine maintained by the 
conquerors could never subdue. Throughout the 
colonial period the isolated cities were subject to 
their marauding incursions, as are the frontier set- 
tlements of to-day. 

By the Pope's grant, not only the lands discovered. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 353 

but also the people who occupied them, became the 
inheritance of the Spanish monarch. To make the 
gift remunerative he made grants of large tracts of 
lands, first to the discoverers and conquerors, after- 
wards to royal favorites, reserving to the crown 
one-fifth of all gold, silver, and precious stones dis- 
covered. Later, the royal fifth included all articles 
of export, and the royal prerogative assumed a 
monopoly of all commerce with the colonies. 

The royal governors, who thus received the land 
from the crown, again divided it among their fol- 
lowers, who were, unfortunately, not always the 
most enlightened representatives of their nation. 
On the contrary, those who succeeded the royal 
family of the Inca in the management of his people 
were unscrupulous adventurers. 

There were two systems by which the natives 
were turned over to the mercy of their conquerors. 
The first, or repartimento system, allotted to each 
Spaniard a certain number of Indians as laborers or 
servants. They were his personal property and emol- 
ument for services to the crown. The second, or 
encomienda system, granted the lands to the cavaliers 
and commended the Indian residents thereon to their 
care as laborers. These could not legally be forced 

from their former places of abode nor sold. But, 
X 30* 



354 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

among a conquering people with whom might was 
right, little scruple was made as to legality when 
self-interest prompted other than the letter of the 
law. While there were technical differences be- 
tween the two systems, the practical result was that 
under both the aborigines became slaves, beasts of 
burden, to their conquerors. From them has de- 
scended the present rural population of the same 
region, with an admixture of the blood of the 
dominant race. 

To found a city was the first care of the royal 
favorite who had received a grant of land. This 
was done with impressive ceremonies. The site 
having been selected, a square was laid out for the 
chief plaza of the city yet to be, and in the centre 
of this square a post was set up and dedicated by 
anointing it with oil, and orations were pronounced. 
The sides of the streets fronting this plaza were set 
apart severally to the cathedral and the accompany- 
ing ecclesiastical buildings, the governor's palace, 
and the government house and jail. The streets of 
the city were next laid out in parallels, crossing 
each other at right angles. The city being thus 
founded, without as yet a dwelling or an inhabitant, 
the enslaved natives were set to work to rear .the 
public buildings, and the governor set up his semi- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 355 

regal court with more magnificence than many of 
the royal houses of Europe could command. The 
adventurers who flourished on his patronage like- 
wise set their vassals to building, and the new city 
in the Spanish Indies became a reality, — a morsel 
of old Spain set down in the solitude of the Amer- 
ican wilderness. The governors were subject to a 
viceroy appointed by the king. 

The subjugation of those wilds, the cultivation 
of the earth, was no part of the plan of these early 
citizens. Their one object of desire was the wealth 
to be dragged from the mineral stores of the moun- 
tain chains and poured at their feet by the enslaved 
Indians. Only enough land was tilled in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the towns to supply its immedi- 
ate wants. In general, these early settlers expected 
to remain only long enough to acquire sufficient 
wealth to secure for themselves " castles in Spain." 
Notwithstanding this, many of them did remain, 
and the old families of the gente decente class trace 
their descent from them. 

Throughout the colonial period the governors 
were always appointed by the crown and came 
direct from Spain, and, after their term of office, 
returned thither. Not infrequently youths born 
in the cities were sent to Spain to be educated. 



356 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



Hence in each of the Spanish-American cities, with 
its few hundred freemen and numerous slaves, were 
to be found a few individuals of as high culture as 
in the mother-country. The spontaneous wealth of 
their adopted country encouraged in them the de- 
mand for the luxuries of civilization, which could 
only be secured from Spain. The several cities, 
now capitals of the Spanish Provinces of the La 
Plata, were established during the first century after 
the discovery of America. Of these, Tucuman was 
the most important in the Viceroyalty of Peru east of 
Lima, and in a subsequent subdivision of territory 
was the capital of the Intendencia of Tucuman. 

The policy of Irala, who succeeded Cabeza de 
Vaca as Governor of Asuncion, was in marked 
contrast with that of contemporaneous governors. 
He devoted his whole energy and influence to 
establish an agricultural nation in this " garden of 
the New World," " the Paradise of the Paraguay." 
To this end he encouraged marriages between the 
colonists and natives, believing that the prosperity 
of the nation would be promoted by fusing with 
the natives rather than by exterminating or enslav- 
ing them. The mixed race that was thus developed 
on the banks of the Paraguay differed from the 
mixed race that had sprung from the alliances of 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 357 

the adventurers of the western portion of the conti- 
nent with the subjugated natives, in that these had 
all the rights and social position of the white race, 
and that the white settlers had adopted the 
country as theirs. The Guarani-Spanish nation of 
Paraguay was an intensely patriotic people. As it 
was easier for the Spaniards to learn the Guarani 
tongue than for the natives to acquire the language 
of the foreigners; also, as the language of the mother 
is the natural language of the child, it came about 
that the Guarani was the language of the Province, 
although an attempt was made to educate some of 
the upper class in Spanish. This difference in lan- 
guage made another strong contrast between the 
Province of Asuncion, or Paraguay, and its neigh- 
boring Provinces owning the same foreign allegiance. 
Within less than a century after the discovery of 
the continent the Spaniards had absorbed both of 
the working, docile nations, and in both sections a 
mixed race, mingled with pure Castilians, was the 
result; but the method in the two sections was 
entirely distinct, and the results aimed at totally at 
variance. So far as it is now possible to define it, 
Irala's was the true American thought, — a homo- 
geneous nation from diverse nationalities. So strong 
was his individuality, and so strongly did he impress 



358 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



his influence on the people, that for half a century 
after his death the colony did not swerve from the 
path he had marked out for them. But for agencies 
arising after his death, there is no reason apparent 
why the nation he founded should not have become 
one of the greatest in the New World. This is not 
the place to consider the agencies that thwarted 
that greatest scheme of a Spanish governor. The 
one physical geographical cause that assisted in its 
subversion was the want of seaboard, and hence 
the impossibility of that moral and social impulse 
imparted by contact with other nations. This 
disadvantage was scarcely noticeable during the 
colonial period, as Spain's colonial regime consisted 
not only in the isolation of the colonies from the 
rest of the world, but isolation from each other. 

National aggrandizement from colonial subjuga- 
tion was the cardinal doctrine of Spain. Hence 
inter-colonial trade was prohibited. The whole com- 
mercial policy was absolute hostility to the colonies 
of the La Plata. Some merchants of Seville and 
Lima got the monopoly of the commerce of Peru 
(which then meant Spanish South America), and the 
further to favor them, edicts were issued to shut off 
all communication between Europe and the La 
Plata colonies. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



359 



For more than a hundred years our Fourth of 
July has execrated the memory of George III. But 
we can little realize what cause we have for thank- 
fulness that the North Atlantic seaboard did not 
fall into the hands of Spain. 



360 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



DIVERSE INHABITANTS. 



During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 
Portugal's mania for commerce was gratified by the 
production of sugar along the Brazilian Atlantic 
frontier, which, according to the prevailing idea of 
the age, demanded slave labor. To supply this de- 
mand, tribe after tribe of the Tupi nations was kid- 
napped, until slave-hunting in the interior became 
one of the chief employments of the Portuguese 
settlers, none of whom exceeded the inhabitants of 
Sao Paulo in the prowess displayed in this enter- 
prise. For a long time this was the most southern 
Portuguese settlement, an almost independent re- 
public, situated in the mountains that communi- 
cated with Santos on the coast. 
• Like the Spaniards, the Portuguese had formed 
alliances with the natives. The mixed race result- 
ing from the amalgamation of the Portuguese Pau- 
listas and the fierce Indian tribes bordering on the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



361 



sierras (who gave to our language the word buc- 
caneer) were called Mamclncos. With an uncon- 
querable hatred for the native tribes, the Mamelu- 
cos were their most indefatigable and relentless foes. 
Nor did they stop with Spanish boundaries. The 
Pope's imaginary line had no terrors for them. 
Their slave-hunting expeditions against the Gua- 
ranis was the first extension of the Portuguese 
claim to the territory of Rio Grande de Sul and 
Eastern Paraguay. 

In the determination to exclude all foreign inter- 
course, the Portuguese policy was identical with the 
Spanish. During the entire three hundred years in 
which Brazil was a dependency of Portugal, none 
save Portuguese ships were allowed to anchor in 
Brazilian ports. And although the concession was 
finally wrested from Portugal to allow the ships of 
its allies, in case of extremity, to enter these ports 
for repairs and provisions, neither officers nor men 
were allowed to go on shore save under the escort 
of a guard of Portuguese soldiers ; so jealous was 
the home government lest any part of its com- 
merce should be smuggled away. 

For more than a century gold-hunting and slave- 
hunting were carried on simultaneously in Brazil, 
the Mamelucos taking the lead in both. When the 
Q 31 



262 ^'^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

search for gold had been crowned with success and 
the discovery of diamonds was added to the Portu- 
guese dream of wealth, these discoveries induced 
increased vigilance to prevent external association, 
as gold-dust and diamonds could be more easily- 
smuggled than the produce of sugar-mills and 
coffee plantations. These new mining industries 
also increased the demand for slaves, and as the 
native supply was not sufficient, Portugal supple- 
mented it from her empire in Africa. Thus was 
introduced the third element in the mixed popula- 
tion of Brazil. Spain also coveted this base of 
labor supply to replace the deficiency caused by her 
inhuman treatment of her Indian subjects, and, as 
the Pope had granted her no share in Africa, the 
one instance in which she swerved from her policy 
of colonial seclusion was the clause in the treaty of 
Utrecht, by which Spain granted to England the 
right to send four ship-loads of slaves annually to 
Peru. One of these ships was to be entered at the 
port of Buenos Ayres, Thus, the first foothold that 
the British lion gained in the La Plata valley was 
as a trafficker in human flesh. On the first oppor- 
tunity Spain abrogated the concession, not from det- 
estation of the trade, but from dread of the traders. 
But the Trojan horse had been admitted, and its 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



363 



hostile hordes could never again be wholly expelled. 
As smugglers no people ever excelled these con- 
scienceless free-trade allies of the Portuguese, who 
afterwards, taking advantage of European mutations, 
at different times made armed invasion of the 
La Plata, and twice gained a brief control over 
the cities at the mouth of the river. Although 
they could not maintain this sovereignty, in spite 
of all the precautions of Spanish authorities the 
British and Portuguese managed to carry on a 
considerable contraband trade with the Spanish 
colonists. 

During the three centuries of colonial rule yet 
another class of inhabitants had grown up in isola- 
tion in this strangely heterogeneous world of iso- 
lations, — the Gaucho of the Argentine plains. There 
is no one word in the English language that is the 
equivalent of the Spanish word Gaucho. The 
Bedouin Arab or Bashi-Bazouk is probably more 
nearly allied to him than any other class known to 
English literature. Through Spain he points back 
to his Saracen ancestors. Through the Spaniard 
he is the descendant of the Moors. Through the 
Spaniard he is also the descendant of the wild tribes 
of the American continent. His haughty spirit 
scorned alike the restraints and factitious culture 



364 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

of civilization. Yet was he not without his own 
standard of honor, his own ideas of manliness. 

Whence originated this Gaucho race, the Amer- 
ican Bedouin that has borne no inconspicuous part 
in the mutations of the nineteenth century ? 

As already intimated, the Spanish colonies of the 
La Plata were isolated cities, between and far be- 
yond which extended immense tracts of territory 
over which no real civil jurisdiction was established. 
The rich pasturage of the prairies supported im- 
mense herds of cattle and horses, thus yielding the 
ready staples of existence. Naturally, there strag- 
gled into these plains, from time to time, those who 
found greater enjoyment in the boundless wealth 
that needed no mining than in intercourse with their 
fellows. Just as naturally, misanthropes, fugitives 
from justice, and outlaws of every grade sought its 
solitudes. All these became " squatter sovereigns ;" 
many, indeed, adding to this title royal land patents. 

With the few slaves necessary for the marking 
and marketing of his increasing herds, the Gaucho 
had no need beyond his horse, on which he spent 
the greater part of his waking existence, and by the 
side of which, with his saddle for a pillow, he could 
contentedly lie down for a night's repose wherever 
darkness might overtake him. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



365 



In its local significance, society was to him an 
impossibility. His home was the merest hovel, and 
its isolation gave no incentive to add to its comforts. 
His cattle furnished his sole diet, and wherever he 
chanced to be his ready knife gave him the means 
of securing his favorite morsel, which, roasted over 
an extemporized fire, appeased his hunger. The 
remainder of the slaughtered animal was left to 
earth's scavengers, — the fowls of heaven. In the 
Gaucho, as in all other mixed races of Spanish 
America, there was a blending of the stolidity of 
the Indian with the chivalric suavity of the Castil- 
ian, the simplicity of natural instinct with the punc- 
tilio of exaggerated etiquette. 

With passing generations it followed that the 
Gaucho neither knew, needed, nor cared for the arti- 
ficial wants and their means of gratification, so 
essential to his half-brother of the city, and alike 
despised them and him as heartily as he was in turn 
despised. 

These strange extremes of the human family, 
from the same source, had one trait in common, — 
the utter detestation of manual labor. Such labor 
was not necessary to the Gaucho, whose half-dozen 
slaves found only pastime with him in the care of 
herds grazing over thirty or forty square miles of 
31* 



^^^ LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

prairie ; and adventure and feats of physical endur- 
ance were courted by him as an outlet to exuberant 
animal life. 

There are those who date the origin of the 
Spanish-American contempt for labor and the 
laborer no farther back than the era of the revo- 
lution, but all the circumstances of the early con- 
quest and the known traits of the Spaniard give 
probability to the older version, — that from the 
beginning those who in Europe were mere laborers, 
in America were hidalgos ; that he who was a com- 
mon sailor in Spain, in America scorned to be any- 
thing less than a merchant ; and that, at one time, so 
great was the contempt for labor and the laborer that 
even the viceroy could find no freeman for service 
that across the water would have been an honor. 

Thus, in three centuries, had grown up in the La 
Plata territory a score of isolated fragments of old 
Spain, jealous of each other and of the rulers whom 
the mother country placed over them, remote from 
each other, and surrounded on the one hand by the 
Gauchos, on the other by the Mamelucos. (These 
two classes were allied in their nature and had many 
points of resemblance in their lives, and in Rio 
Grande and Uruguay had somewhat fused during 
the contests of the rival nations for supremacy 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



367 



over these fertile plains.) The highways connecting 
the cities were mere mule paths or cart tracks, worn 
into ruts by washing rains, diverging from which 
over the prairies the caravans were the legitimate 
prey of the Gaucho freebooter, as were the cargoes 
from the Asiatic Indies to the freebooters of the 
seas. 



368 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 



Without a possibility of general information, 
with no means of general education, no discipline 
of thought, no participation in government affairs, 
no ideas of any kind of government, save an abso- 
lute, despotic monarchy exercised through despotic 
subalterns, the one political aspiration of the South 
American creole was an equal eligibility to offices 
of trust and emolument in his native land with 
subjects born in Spain. " The divine right of kings" 
had never been questioned. The royal fifth had 
never been withheld. The royal monopolies had 
never been resisted, save by foreign smugglers. 

Such was the condition of the La Plata countries 
when the United States forced itself into the family 
of nations on the declaration that all men are born 
free and equal ; and all Europe became convulsed 
with the birth-throes of constitutional liberty, which 
resulted in awakening the towering ambition of 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. ^69 

Napoleon Bonaparte. Spain became an annex of 
France, with Joseph Bonaparte as a figure-head on 
the throne. 

If the Spanish hidalgos of South America had 
one antipathy above all others, it was against France, 
the old-time enemy of their ancestors ; and when 
the tardy intelligence reached them that their king 
was virtually a captive, they scorned the allegiance 
Napoleon proposed to them, and with the cry 
" Long live Ferdinand VII.," the Spanish-American 
revolution was begun. 

It is thus apparent that, up to the time of the 
beginning of the revolution, there was not, and had 
not been, the most remote likeness between the 
Spanish colonies and the immortal thirteen of the 
North Atlantic coast. These, contiguous to each 
other, with a community of interests and sympathies, 
disciplined to thought and accustomed to self-govern- 
ment and some participation in governmental affairs, 
— these rebelled against palpable wrongs which they 
clearly defined, and stood for a principle deemed 
greater than life. The South Americans, on the 
contrary, rebelled solely against a change of rulers. 

The time-serving, selfish policy of the acting 
governors, who had been appointed by the deposed 
king, prompted them to accept the new allegiance 



370 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

offered, in order thereby to retain their offices. For 
this act of base subservience the Creoles rose against 
them, perhaps with all the more vehemence because 
of the jealousy with which they had long coveted 
their places. In imitation of the loyalists in Spain, 
the loyalists in America appointed committees of 
citizens to rule the various Provinces in the name of 
the king, all of which committees, called juntos, 
swore allegiance to Ferdinand VII. Thus was pre- 
sented the anomaly of royalists warring against 
royal governors ; and when Ferdinand was again 
restored to the throne, the further anomaly was 
presented of a sovereign denouncing as rebels the 
subjects who had never swerved from their allegi- 
ance, and had begged the privilege of avenging his 
wrongs and restoring him to his throne. 

These men who, because of their loyalty, now 
heard themselves denounced as rebels, during the 
interim of French supremacy had tried the experi- 
ment of self-government. They had felt the throb- 
bing heart of the Republic that had sprung to life 
under the North Star, and raised their eyes exult- 
ingly to the Southern Cross which shone as brightly 
over them. The word rebel, coming from their 
liege king, made them rebels against all kings and 
kingcraft; and the war of revolution became the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 571 

war of independence, waged for fifteen years with 
not a whit less bravery, not a whit less self-abnega- 
tion than was shown by our revolutionary fathers 
and mothers for half that length of time. Nor was 
it less successful. 

Buenos Ayres was foremost, in 1810, in the revo- 
lution against the disloyal governors, but in Tucu- 
man, the oldest inland capital of the La Plata, six 
years afterwards, was assembled the Congress that de- 
clared independence of foreign rule. Each Spanish 
colony, or group of colonies, being an independent 
government, made its own declaration of indepen- 
dence, and each helped the other until Spanish- 
American colonies ceased to exist. 

When Napoleon turned toward Portugal, King 
John escaped to his colonial possessions in Amer- 
ica by the help of a British squadron, and Brazil 
became at once the seat of royalty and the empo- 
rium of trade. Raised to equal rank with Portugal 
and its ports opened to commerce, new life throbbed 
through the Eastern Provinces and broke in trem- 
bling pulsations on the borders of Paraguay. When 
the furor for constitutional rights that agitated the 
two hemispheres a little later swept over Brazil also, 
King John yielded to the popular current, and, 
turning over to his son, Dom Pedro, the regency 



372 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

of Brazil, hastened back to his ancestral throne. 
Pedro became the champion of constitutional lib- 
erty, and with the declaration " Independence or 
death," thrilled the New World with sympathy. 
With an almost bloodless struggle, Brazil became 
an independent constitutional empire, with the legal 
heir of the house of Braganza its elected emperor. 
When, a decade later, the jealousy of Brazilian 
patriots had been excited against Pedro I., he also 
abdicated in favor of his son, then only six years 
old, and quietly withdrew to Portugal. 

Like Brazil, Paraguay gained its independence 
without bloodshed, through the wisdom of its royal 
governor, who, seeing that the storm had gathered 
and must burst, simply resigned his office and re- 
tired to private life, and by wise counsels, where 
counsels . were admissible, aided, where aid could 
best be afforded, in the private walks of humanity. 
But the easiest victories are not always the truest 
victories. Poor Paraguay's hour had not yet come. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



373 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

PERIOD OF ANARCHY. 

When it was seen by European statesmen that 
Spain would not succeed in reducing her rebellious 
colonies to subjection, an attempt was made by- 
European diplomatists to replace by monarchial 
governments the incipient republics for which the 
Spanish-American patriots were avowedly contend- 
ing, and to place scions of the royal families of 
Europe on the several thrones thus created in 
America. This attempt was frustrated by the 
declaration made on December 2, 1823, by the 
President of the United States, — that any attempt 
on the part of the powers of Europe to extend their 
system to any part of the New World would be 
regarded by the United States as dangerous to its 
peace and safety, and would be opposed. President 
Monroe further expressed the genuine sympathy 
felt by the people of the United States for their 
revolutionary neighbors, by first appointing ac- 



374 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



credited agents to visit the several South American 
countries and ascertain their condition ; and after- 
wards by recognizing them as nations and sending 
fully-accredited ministers to their capitals. The 
minister accredited to the La Plata Confederation 
arrived before any plenipotentiary from any other 
nation, and was welcomed in Buenos Ayres with 
marked rejoicing. A public reception was given 
him, and when he died, a few months later, he was 
buried with all the magnificence possible under the 
circumstances, and a subsequent Congress voted him 
a monument. 

In 1825 Spain acknowledged the independence of 
all her continental possessions in America. 

The enthusiasm of the people of the United States 
was then unbounded. They exulted in the belief 
that the several new republics " were about to enter 
on the same great course of prosperity as we." 
Europeans also, who had at last gained the long- 
coveted entrance to the land of the silver river, 
entertained extravagant hopes and untenable plans 
for securing material wealth. But North Americans 
and Europeans were alike doomed to disappoint- 
ment. The three hundred years of isolation that 
had kept all knowledge of the internal affairs of 
the colonies from the world, left both alike at fault 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 375 

in their estimates of the people and the possibilities 
of their immediate future. When foreign nations 
believed the revolution ended, the real revolution 
was about to begin. When the advocates of con- 
stitutional liberty were blinded by the glamour of 
the word independence, and believed that the war 
had been fought and the victory made secure, the 
fires which should blaze up into fiercer and final war 
between internal barbarism and civilization in the 
La Plata were ready to be kindled. The material 
for a great internal bonfire had been accumulating 
since the day that the Spanish conquerors first 
crossed the crest of the Andes. The conditions for 
the fearful holocaust were unexceptionable. A spark 
had long been all that was wanting for a conflagra- 
tion ; and that spark had been furnished by the 
opportune, congenial activity furnished to the Gau- 
cho population of the plains during the struggle for 
independence. 

Until 1 8 10 the Spanish American of the city was 
not a political factor. From that lime until 1825 he 
was the only political factor, save the foreign parti- 
sans who had flocked to his opened port. Although, 
to gain supremacy, the civilian had not been loath to 
call to his aid the strong Gaucho arm and the daunt- 
less Gaucho endurance, the Gaucho himself was 



3/6 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



not a political factor before 1827. Up to that time, 
according to Sarmiento, — and we have no better 
authority, — the squatter sovereign of the plains had 
not had a political thought. Schemes of govern- 
ment were nothing to him. But he was possessed 
of unbounded physical capabilities, and the excite- 
ment of the war of independence that permeated 
all classes had called these into exercise. The 
word independence to him had no real political 
significance, because in the very nature of his ex- 
istence he was independent of all governments. 
Yet, corresponding with his life, the embodiment 
of his consciousness, it was a pleasant word to his 
ear, and within the succeeding decade, repeated by 
him, came to express the idea of independence of 
all the restraints of civilization, against which his 
nature was inherently at war. 

The La Plata Confederation, which had a brief 
existence in national nomenclature, was a confeder- 
ation or alliance for commercial interests of the 
southern cities of the former Spanish Viceroyalty of 
Buenos Ayres west of the Parana. Of these the 
inland cities were in their civilization, culture, and 
modes of thought still distinctively Spanish, while 
Buenos Ayres, by the influx of Europeans, had be- 
come comparatively a foreign city, as New York is 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 377^ 

often regarded among North American cities. Ever 
since the admission of the first British slave-ship, 
foreign thinkers had crept in and foreign thoughts 
had gradually taken root. Into it had now rushed 
foreign partisans representing every shade of opinion 
and speculation called liberal. From 1825, Buenos 
Ayres was flooded with the literature of Europe, 
and the literature of Europe at that era was fiercely 
at war with all the established orders of society. 
The onslaught on civil and religious institutions, 
led by such men as Rousseau and Voltaire, that 
shook Europe, here found sympathy, and the seed 
of dissolution sown by them here dropped into pro- 
pitious soil. Rousseau's Le Coiitrat Social flew from 
hand to hand, and this new country, in which Eu- 
ropean institutions had been demolished, was rec- 
ognized by these liberal thinkers of Buenos Ayres 
as the ready arena for the development of the great 
social experiment. 

The first Constitution of the La Plata Confeder- 
ation was adopted amidst the unreal and unreal- 
izable expectations natural to a people who, without 
any preliminary training or fitness for framing gov- 
ernments, had within the brief period of twenty years, 
by military prowess alone, conquered all Europe, so 

far as its own exigencies had brought them into 
32* 



378 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

contact, and imbibed the inflated European ideals 
of the period. An elaborate system of government 
was adopted, designed to be the freest of the free, 
the most liberal of the liberal, and Rividavia became 
the first President of the La Plata Confederation, as 
he was its last. The generally accepted explanation 
of its short existence is that it was a government 
designed only for the participation of the cultured 
class, — that is, for the Spanish Americans of the 
cities. This explanation has the advantage of plau- 
sibility ; the only objection to it is an absence of 
historical accuracy. The truth is that the first Con- 
stitution adopted, and the only administration estab- 
lished under it, contemplated the cultivation and 
education of the masses. Amnesty laws, Individual 
SECURITY, Respect for property, Responsibility 

OF CIVIL authority, EQUILIBRIUM OF POWER, RE- 
LIGIOUS LIBERTY, and Public education were its 
seven pillars which were to uphold a glorious 
temple of liberty and protect a great, enlightened, 
and free people. 

Robert Owen never looked forward more hope- 
fully to the disappearance of all wrongs through the 
agency of a communism of labor, education, and fair 
treatment than did Rividavia and his compeers. 
Teachers were imported from Europe, and an elab- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 379 

orate attempt made to establish schools for the 
people. The press was established and learned men 
from Europe brought over to fill the editorial chair. 
Immigration and foreign commerce were invited, 
and a national bank established to encourage trade. 
The fault of the first Constitution was not the 
want but the excess of liberality. The real cause 
of its short continuance was its stupendous imprac- 
ticability, the attempt to effect at once the work of 
centuries. Its 'one flaw was, it zvas imported. A 

GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE AND BY THE PEOPLE 
MUST GROW OUT OF THE PEOPLE. 

The sincerity with which the patriots who founded 
that government were seeking the good of the whole, 
and accepted the idea that the majority should rule, 
is evidenced by the willingness with which Rivi- 
davia resigned his position when he saw that the 
government was unpopular. Then began a cycle 
of anarchy, a reign of terror, the horrors of which 
were never exceeded in Rome under the Caligulas, 
among the Kafirs of Africa, or the hordes of Beloo- 
chistan, the continuance of which bewildered, con- 
founded, and discouraged those who had with such 
confident enthusiasm seen the new republic enrolled 
in the catalogue of nations. It is needless now to 
bewilder ourselves in trying to thread the mazes of 



380 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

revolutions and counter revolutions that ever fed 
afresh on carnage, in which the names of Dorrego, 
Bustos, Lavalla, Artigas, Quiroga, Lopez, and others 
figure as so many human demons, which revolutions 
culminated in making Juan Manuel de Rosas, the 
Gaucho descendant of the Castilian conquerors, the 
master of the La Plata. To find a fitting compari- 
son for the horrors of the Rosas administration, 
local and foreign writers have exhausted the Neros, 
Caligulas, Domitians, and every other tyranny 
known to history. 

Throughout the long reign of anarchy, during 
which one Gaucho chief after another gained a brief 
ascendancy, no city, no hamlet, no district in the La 
Plata territories knew any government save absolute 
despotism ; the one absolute despotism overshad- 
owing the other absolute despotism only as the 
intellect and daring or intrigue of the one tyrant 
enabled him to extend his sw^y more widely than 
the other, all of which was disguised from the 
outer world under the captivating words " Republic" 
and " Liberty." 

These men — Quiroga, Lopez, Bustos, Artigas, 
Rosas — were all born to rule. Had they also been 
bred to rule, their native earth had drunk less of 
human blood. And each did rule — Quiroga over 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 381 

the western Provinces, Lopez over Santa Fe, Bus- 
tos over the Argentine Mesopotamia — until, under 
each, civilization shrank away and mortals cowered 
with bated breath, — until Rosas, grown stronger 
than the others, caused the earth to drink their 
blood also. Then he reigned alone over all the 
Provinces west of the Parana and Paraguay Rivers. 
Had a {^\^ more years been granted him, his dream 
of ruling over all the former Viceroyalty of Buenos 
Ayres might have been realized. 

For twenty-seven years after the resignation of 
President Rividavia there was never a legislative 
assembly convened in Buenos Ayres, and if,- in all 
the La Plata, during the same period, there was 
ever a vote cast, save of bayonets, the fate of the 
voter was beyond hope. 

According to Sarmiento's definition, the " Uni- 
tario party was civilized, constitutional, European ; 
the Federal party barbarous, arbitrary. South Amer- 
ican." But he assures us that in the civil contests 
that then agitated the country it was individuals 
and not principles that were followed ; that if a 
" Unitario" leader became obnoxious, the " Unitario" 
party cried out for " Federalism." If a " Federal" 
leader gained too great supremacy, a would-be 
leader under him revolted and cried for " Unitarian- 



382 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

ism ;" that there was really nothing that could be 
depended on. Had there been any political sta- 
bility among the people, the term " Unitario," as 
applied to a political party, would have indicated 
those who were in favor of a separate republican 
government (so called) for each Province, to be 
administered by its own people, independent of all 
the other Provinces, but that the several Prov- 
inces might form an alliance for commercial pur- 
poses. The " platform" of the " Federal" party, if 
it had one, would have been the union of all the 
Provinces under one government. The more in- 
telligent " Unitarios," or " Patriots," resisted the 
" Federalists," or " Patriots," because they under- 
stood their federalization to mean a centralization 
of power as a means of oppression, — an opinion 
justified by the administration of the " Federal" 
chief Rosas, who arrogated to himself the titles 
of " The Liberator" and " The Restorer of his 
Country." (Coins bearing his image and these 
titles are still occasionally met.) 

" Rividavia's government was at least easy and 
endurable for the people. He never shed a drop of 
blood nor destroyed the property of any one. Rosas 
might have been drowned in the blood of his victims, 
and in ten years he spent forty million dollars from 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. ^83 

the public treasury and fifty million dollars seized 
from private fortunes." * 

There is a time to everything under the sun, and 
at last the time came when feasts of human ears, 
ox-hide tombs for living men, and horses festooned 
with human heads must cease in the land which the 
Creator has favored with every natural good. Two 
causes conspired to usher in this time. One was 
that long-suffering, much-abused, universal senti- 
ment of the human soul called patriotism ; the other, 
that vaunted autocrat of the human pocket called 
commerce. And never has Brazil's maternal dower 
served a nobler purpose than when it prompted a 
coalition with the exiled patriots of Argentina to 
overthrow the monster that blocked the entrance 
of the Rio de la Plata. 

The few years that had intervened between the 
downfall of the Spanish dominion and the rise of 
the Gaucho supremacy (represented in its complete- 
ness by Rosas) was the only period in which the 
waters of the great river had been open to the 
navigation of other nations. During that brief 
period Brazil had practically realized the advantage 
of this over all other means of communication with 

* Sarmiento. 



284 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

its La Platean possessions. This consideration de^ 
termined it to send a fleet to co-operate with the 
patriots of Argentina. Rosas was defeated in Feb- 
ruary, 1852, and fled to England. His supremacy- 
had forever destroyed the old-time prestige of the 
cities. Never again could their relative supremacy 
be restored. It had broken down the isolation of 
the country from the cities, and never again could 
the rural element cease to be a factor in the civili- 
zation of the land, whatever might be the degree of 
civilization attained or attainable. The downfall of 
Rosas as effectually destroyed the Gaucho suprem- 
acy. The middle wall between the civilian and the 
rustic was effectually trodden under foot. Hence- 
forth the word Province must mean town and terri- 
tory; rustic and civilian, native peasant and native 
prince. Whatever government should henceforth 
be established must grow out of the capabilities as 
well as the needs of all classes, and yield homage to 
the excellencies of all. Whatever might be the 
nation that should arise from the remnants of these 
diverse classes, it must arise from the united frag- 
ments of all. 

The long, dismal period of Gaucho revolution 
convinced the most advanced thinkers of the "Uni- 
tario" party that the original unitario idea, which 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



385 



would constitute each Province an independent gov- 
ernment, allied only for commercial ends, would 
never give strength for self-defence, and hence that 
a genuine federal union was the only hope of future 
stability. That dismal quarter of a century had also 
given to exiled Argentine Unitarios the opportunity 
of studying other governments and apprehending 
more clearly the true significance of the terms 
Liberty, Independence, and Federalism. With 
this clearer apprehension of the significance of 
these terms was coupled the clearer apprehension 
of the possibility of attaining them and of how the 
freedom of their country might most effectually be 
secured. Thus the patriots of the "Unitario" party 
became true federalists, and overthrew the " Fed- 
eral" party that had put Rosas into power and was 
merged in him. Or, in other words, the most in- 
telligent members of the " Unitario" party, having 
gained this new idea of a central government com- 
posed of authorized delegates from the several Prov- 
inces, each of whom would be a check on the others, 
became the advocates of a Federal Argentine 
Unity, instead of the Provincial Unity which they 
had before believed the only safeguard of liberty. 
They became federalists, but not " Federals," as the 
term was then applied to the political party, and as 
R 2 IZ 



386 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



federalists overcame the " Federals." Having suc- 
ceeded in expelling Rosas, steps were taken to form 
a Federal Republic. 

But another lesson had yet to be learned. The 
trite aphorism, " Experience is a dear school," must 
yet have one more illustration among these hope- 
lessly hopeful, struggling aspirants after civil liberty 
and national greatness. The jealousy between the 
city of Buenos Ayres and the cities of the interior 
must yet be broken down. Ten more years were 
needed for the learning of the lesson that each is 
equally dependent on the other, and that neither 
jealousies nor distrust are compatible with national 
prosperity and foreign respect. The reconstruction 
of 1862 recognized this fact, and from that recon- 
struction properly begins the history of the Argen- 
tine nation. The federalization of the city of Bu- 
enos Ayres removed the last vestige of a cause of 
jealousy. The fifty years preceding the recon- 
struction of 1862, as has been seen, was merely a 
gloomy period of transition. Yet it may be ques- 
tioned whether in any portion of the globe, in any 
era of the world's history, a greater transition has 
taken place in the habits and modes of thought, or 
whether any people in the same length of time has 
taken a longer stride towards true development 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



387 



With the reconstruction of 1862 (which was the 
veritable consolidation of the several previous re- 
constructions) a broad foundation was laid on which 
to construct national greatness. This foundation 
was formed, not from the imposed plans of specious 
theorists, but from a knowledge of national needs 
and national capabilities. Old tastes and preju- 
dices, old modes of thought and narrowness of 
vision, must yet have forbearance. But it was then 
made apparent that the day had dawned when from 
the diverse elements already described there came 
the possibility of a homogeneous people. The 
National Constitution chosen for this homogeneous 
people, after its various modifications, is almost an 
exact reproduction of that of the United States, ex- 
cept in the one important particular of the recog- 
nition and support of a state religion. The fourteenth 
article of the Constitution may be regarded as the 
Magna Charta of Argentine liberty. It reads, — 

" All the inhabitants of the nation shall enjoy the 
following rights, according to the laws which regu- 
late their exercise : viz., to labor and to practise all 
lawful industry; to trade and navigate; to petition 
the authorities ; to enter, remain in, travel over, and 
leave Argentine territory ; to publish their ideas in 
the public press without previous censure; to enjoy 



388 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

and dispose of their property ; to associate for useful 
purposes; to profess freely their rehgion ; to teach 
and to learn." 

Of the fifteen Provinces that for so many years 
bewildered the world and themselves with the con- 
fused ciy of " Unitario" and " Federal," Uruguay is 
now the only representative of the " Unitario" idea 
of government. If it were possible to say which of 
the fifteen Provinces has suffered more than the 
others in the vicissitudes growing out of the anoma- 
lous life of the Spanish possessions of the La Plata, 
that unenviable pre-eminence must be accorded to 
the " Banda Oriental del Uruguay." With the same 
internal incongruities of population, and the same 
universal trait of intolerance of equals, characteristic 
of the Spaniard, — now "annexed to Brazil ; now 
claimed by the Confederation; now besieged by 
the English ; now bombarded by Buenos Ayres 
" Patriots ;" and now invaded by Brazilian " defend- 
ers," — in all its vicissitudes it was rent by civil 
factions. By the treaty of 1859 its national indepen- 
dence and territorial integrity were guaranteed by 
Great Britain, Brazil, and the Argentine Republic. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 389 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

ANCIENT RELIGIONS. 

" Was there any real question of religion in the Argentine Re- 
public ? I would deny it utterly if I did not know that the more 
barbarous and irreligious a people is, the more liable it is to preju- 
dice and fanaticism." — D. F. Sarmiento, in " Recollections of a 
Province." 

The various tyrants of the La Plata ruled because 
they had the strong ruling nature. They ruled as 
tyrants because their education fitted them for tyran- 
nical ruling. The people submitted or rebelled as 
their education fitted them for submission or rebel- 
lion. Education is a long growth. Ideas change 
slowly. One thought at a time is grasped and 
woven into the mental woof that clothes and cloaks 
the spirit life. The theology of a people is its 
aggregate inheritance of religious thought. Al- 
though the revolutions of the La Plata were not 
religious wars, it is not irrelevant to inquire what 
inheritance of religious thought had contributed to 
3* 



3gd LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

the education of a people whose history, during 
fifty years of the present century, reads so like 
a troubled dream that one could fain wish it were 
only a dream. 

Historians tell us that there was a time when the 
various aboriginal tribes of the American continent 
held to the sublime idea of one God who fills all 
space, by whom all things are created, and who 
would be dishonored by any attempt at visible rep- 
resentation. A temple, concerning the building of 
which history knows nothing, dedicated to this 
invisible being, anciently stood near the present site 
of the city of Lima, and to it devout Indians made 
long pilgrimages. They believed also in a future 
state of rewards and punishments and in the resur- 
rection of the body. But it appears that, like others 
groping without the light of revelation, they could 
not live up to their sublime conception. 

At the advent of the white man the Inca nation 
represented the highest religious development on 
the continent. According to their tradition all the 
American tribes were sunk in the grossest idolatry 
and practised the most abominable rites, when the 
Sun, the great source of life, out of compassion for 
their degradation, sent down his two children, 
Manco Capac and Oella Huacco, to teach them the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



391 



arts of civilization. They brought with them a 
golden wedge, and were instructed to take up their 
abode where it should of its own accord sink into 
the earth. The Inca capital, the city of Cuzco, was 
accordingly built around the spot where this event 
took place, and which itself was crowned with the 
Coricancha, the great temple of the sun, the most 
magnificent building on the continent, in whose con- 
struction, it is said, twenty thousand men were em- 
ployed fifty years. It is doubtful if any building 
in the old world was more magnificently adorned. 
The great image of the sun, in the semblance of a 
human face, from which radiated lines made of 
precious stones, was made in the gold plate that 
covered the inner wall on which the first rays of the 
sun shone at its rising. The decorations of this 
temple were all of gold, — "the tears wept by the 
sun," — mingled with precious stones. The decora- 
tions of the temple of the moon, the queen of 
heaven, that adjoined it, were of silver. Three or 
four hundred smaller temples were also dedicated to 
these deities in that city, and every village in the 
empire had its temple of the sun. 

The arrival of the two children of the Sun in the 
plains of Titacaca is estimated to have been about 
twelve hundred years after God had sent his Son 



392 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

into the world to redeem mankind. But no mes- 
senger had reached these distant ones with the 
Gospel of his love, and they were accordingly left 
to the kindly ministrations of Manco Capac, who 
gathered them into villages and taught them agri- 
culture, and of Mama Oella Huacco, who taught 
the women to spin. Whoever this sun pair may 
have been, wherever they may have come from, or 
at what particular era the tradition may have been 
invented, from it was developed a complete system 
of theology, vying in its perfection of detail with 
those of China, Hindostan, and Egypt, to each of 
which it bore analogy. 

By virtue of his divine origin and direct descent, 
the ruling Inca was head of both church and state, 
which was one and the same. Everything in the 
civil policy of the Inca had a religious bearing. 
Everything in the religious policy had a civil 
bearing. Church and state were identical. While 
the ruling Inca was head of the church, his brother 
or nearest kinsman was the great high-priest, and 
all high-priests throughout the empire, as well as 
all officiating priests of the capital, were of the royal 
blood. Inferior provincial priests were often of the 
families of the chiefs of the conquered tribes. 
Owing to their acknowledged celestial origin, the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. ^93 

Inca priests needed the prestige of no distinctive 
dress, and wore only that of the noble class. 

There were three orders of priests, — those who 
ministered in the temples, and hence had little com- 
munication with the people; those who were em- 
ployed as instructors of noble youths or visitors 
among the peasantry ; and those who went out 
among the wild tribes to teach them the true wor- 
ship of the sun. For the Inca never forgot that it 
was his great mission to convert the heathen. 

The Inca asserted his claim to superiority by 
magnificent clothing of the finest vicufia wool, richly 
embroidered with gold and gems. His head-dress 
was a turban of many folds, surrounded with a 
fringe denoting royalty, and decorated with two 
feathers of a sacred bird. His mode of life was in 
a corresponding style of magnificence. Even the 
highest noble might not enter his presence unless 
barefoot and carrying a burden. But when he en- 
tered the great temple of the sun to worship, he, 
too, laid aside his shoes in token of humility. At 
intervals he made journeys through the empire, car- 
ried on a gold-embroidered litter borne on the 
shoulders of men, with a rich canopy carried over 
his head, preceded by the royal standard (whose 
device was the rainbow), bands of musicians, and 



294 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

companies of priests, and followed by a long pro- 
cession of attendants. The people assembled in 
crowds along his route, removed every straw and 
pebble, and strewed the road before him with flow- 
ers. The places where he halted in these journeys 
were held sacred and became shrines to which pil- 
grimages were made. 

When the Inca died, or " returned to the home 
of his father," his body was embalmed, dressed in 
his royal attire, and seated on a golden chair on the 
right side of the image of the sun in the great 
temple, with folded hands and bowed head, as if in 
adoration. The queens were in like manner em- 
balmed and ranged on the left side of the temple. 
For a year after his death the Inca was mourned 
with great pomp and many processions. The 
bodies of the several Incas were brought out on 
the occasion of great festivals and carried through 
the streets under rich canopies, preceded by music 
and incense, the people strewing flowers before 
them, then returned to their place. 

The chief festivals of this religion were those 
which celebrated the solstices and equinoxes, the 
greatest of the four being that of the summer sol- 
stice, when the sun had reached its most northern 
limit and again turned its course towards its chil- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 305 

dren. This festival was preceded by a three-days' 
fast. On the great day of the festival the sacred 
fire was kindled from the sun by means of a con- 
cave mirror of polished metal. Then a procession 
was formed, the magnificence of which it would 
have been difficult to surpass in any country, after 
which a sacrifice was offered to the sun, consisting 
of incense and the fruits of the earth, to which was 
added a slaughtered llama. On very rare occasions 
a human victim was offered. After the sacrifice had 
been offered the people gave themselves up to 
revelry and dancing, of which they were exces- 
sively fond. The religious festivals were the only 
popular assemblies, and with them were sometimes 
combined the essential elements of agricultural fairs, 
or bureaus of exchange. They also furnished to 
the peasantry their only recreation, and, alternating 
with fasts and an irregular practice of confession 
and penance, made up the externals of their re- 
ligion, the searching nature of which left no hidden 
thought, neither room for spontaneous action or 
moral free agency. Obedience was the one cardi- 
nal virtue; because, as the law-giver was divine, to 
disobey his least mandate was sacrilege and merited 
the punishment of death. The good and the wicked 
went to different abodes after death, and the future 



396 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

life depended on the state of the individual in this. 
Some doubt seems to hang over the question 
whether immortality was for the common people; 
but no cloud obstructed the vision of the higher 
class, who looked forward confidently to an exist- 
ence of elegant repose. Owing to their descent 
from the sacred pair they were regarded as inca- 
pable of doing anything wrong. Because of this 
descent the nobility held the monopoly of all the 
learning of their time, and had many other special 
privileges. The great law of progress was not for 
the common people. As one was born so he must 
die. The success of the Inca dynasty was the re- 
sult of the supreme control which this idea of the 
divinity of the Inca gained over the religious na- 
ture of his subjects, the religious nature being the 
strongest element in the triune being, man. 

The houses of the priests adjoined the temples. 
Near them, also, were long, low ranges of stone 
buildings surrounded by high walls that entirely 
hid their occupants from observation. These were 
the houses of the " Virgins of the Sun," called also 
" The Elect" and " The Brides of the Church." 
These virgins were selected when quite young from 
among the daughters of the noble class. Daughters 
of the Indian chieftains and even of the common 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 3^7 

people were also occasionally chosen when distin- 
guished for their beauty. On entering these houses 
they renounced the world and all communication 
with it. They were henceforth unknown to their 
own families and friends. They were instructed in 
the duties of their vocation by women grown old in 
the service. The first of these duties was the care 
of the celestial fire. If this was suffered to go out 
during the year it was regarded as the harbinger of 
a national calamity. Their further duties were the 
manufacture of clothing for the royal household and 
hangings for the temples. The rich embroideries 
of gold, silver, and gems displayed in the great fes- 
tivals were the work of the virgins of the sun. 
None save those having the care and inspection of 
them and the king and queen were allowed to enter 
these houses, the inmates of which were destined to 
become the Inca's concubines, and at his pleasure 
were removed to the seraglios of his numerous pal- 
aces. When the number in any seraglio became 
inconveniently large, those whom he designated re- 
turned, each to her native place, where a house was 
provided for her, in which she lived in great state, 
and was treated with marked respect as the Inca's 
bride. 

To the worship of the sun and moon, as repre- 
34 



2g8 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

sented by the Inca and his sister-wife, was added 
that of the rainbow, the principal stars, thunder and 
lightning, the winds, and all the known forces, as 
well as the most striking objects of nature, such as 
mountains, rivers, and trees. As each successive 
tribe was conquered, the images of its gods, together 
with its chief men, were taken to the capital and 
provision was made from the revenues of the con- 
quered Province for the maintenance of their 
worship. Thus, by their successive conquests and 
religious toleration, the theology of western South 
America became a pantheism scarcely less complete 
than that which confronted Paul in the Grecian 
capital. 

To the missionary nation of Inca conquerors came 
a conquering nation with more destructive weapons 
than its warriors knew, and bearing with them the 
symbol of their faith. This conquering people were 
the religious heirs of a succession of conquering 
nations, each of which, with like religious toleration, 
had added the gods of nations they conquered to 
their catalogue of objects of worship, and perhaps 
naturalized them with national names. Through 
such methods, when Rome had conquered the 
world, the pantheon represented the aggregate in- 
heritance of human theology in the countries of the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 3^^ 

Mediterranean. In the course of time this pantheon 
admitted the cross among its other objects of wor- 
ship and adopted the name of Christianity. No 
principle of the old religion was violated by this 
change, nor was any cardinal principle of Christi- 
anity admitted with it. It was followed by the 
gradual renaming of the gods and goddesses already 
held in veneration. The " Magna Deorum Mater" 
took the name Mary, and was still the mother of the 
gods, or " The Mother of God." In the different 
modes of presenting her, she is Venus, Minerva, 
Hygia, Salus, Diana, and a score of others, with an 
extensive retinue of inferior goddesses called saints 
in her train. In time, Jupiter became Peter, who 
also has an innumerable retinue of subordinates ; and 
the door of this Christian (?) pantheon was left ajar, 
with a pedestal awaiting every mortal whose deifica- 
tion human policy might suggest. Instead of ad- 
vancing Christianity by its nominal adoption, Rome 
placed a barrier in the way of the advancement of 
its principles by giving a factitious Christian nomen- 
clature to faiths with which it was radically at war, 
and which it is its avowed mission to destroy. 

The dismemberment of the Roman Empire gave 
an impulse to the propagation of the renamed my- 
thology of Rome, and he who sat upon the Seven 



400 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



Hills Still aspired to rule the world. With less of 
human wisdom than had been shown by Manco 
Capac, he arrogated to himself a right to command 
universal obedience, based not on an inherent divine 
nature, but on a delegated divine authority, and 
subsequently bolstered up the claim by the assump- 
tion of infallibility. Controlling the conscience by 
the assumption of divine authority, and blinding the 
understanding by the names offered for worship, 
the Pope held the nations of Europe as no emperor 
had ever held them. Then religious toleration 
ceased to be a dogma of the Romish Pantheon. 
To worship less or other than its host was heresy. 
To worship any god by other mode than this earthly 
vicegerent prescribed was death. With all the 
machinery inherited from its pagan ancestry, — its 
images, with their attendant hosts of artisans whose 
craft would be lost should their worship cease, its 
monastic, mendicant, and various priestly orders, its 
motto, — worship as I worship or die, — the Romish 
Church went forth on its double mission of civil and 
religious conquest with kings as its servants. 

Comparatively near the same time, in the decade 
of centuries, three different classes of missionary 
warriors went forth to force the world to accept 
the only true faith, — the Mohammedan with the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



401 



Koran and the sword, the Romanist with the Cross 
and battle-axe, his path flanked by the flames of the 
inquisition, and the Inca with the rainbow and 
waiting quiver. Of the three we can but ac- 
knowledge the Inca's methods the most Christlike. 
The crescent replaced the cross on the site that 
consecrated it, and the cross of blood and fire ex- 
tinguished the rainbow on the mountains it had 
mildly spanned. 

The temples of the sun were ruthlessly destroyed, 
and the gold torn from their walls replenished the 
coffers of Spain for its holy wars against infidels 
and heretics. A Dominican church supplanted the 
beautiful Coricancha on the spot made sacred by 
the sinking of the golden wedge, and everywhere 
"the idols of these poor, deluded heathen were 
replaced by images of the Virgin and child" and 
her accompanying satellites. 

In effect, the Spanish conquest said to the docile 
nation of the West, trained for generations in im- 
plicit obedience to the human-divine law, " Your 
Manco Capac is a heathenish superstition. The Pope 
is the true vicegerent of the Almighty. It is to 
him that all power in heaven and earth is given ; it 
is to him that every knee must bow ; it is in him 
and his delegates that all wisdom dwells. He holds 

aa 34* 



402 



LA PLATA COUNTRLES 



the key that unlocks the abodes of future bhss or 
woe ; and he delegates to his priests the power to 
unlock and bar them at will. Your divine sister, 
queen of heaven, is a device of the devil, the fruit 
of a corrupt imagination. We present to you the 
true queen of heaven and mother of God. Direct 
your petitions to her. She can compassionate you. 
Pour out your treasures at her feet. She can succor 
you. Clothe her with your richest embroideries, 
keep the sacred fires always on her altars, and let 
your sweet spices exhale incense before her, that 
she and all the saints may intercede for you." 

In the religious ceremonials of the conquerors the 
embalmed bodies of the descendants of the fabulous 
celestial pair were replaced by images representing 
deceased mortals of fabulous lives. Religious festi- 
vals still supplied the sole recreation of the people, 
the only respite from abject toil of the enslaved, the 
only occasions on which the people assembled to- 
gether. At these the images from the churches 
were carried through the streets with incense and 
music, while the streets were cleared before them 
and strewn with flowers, just as was done for their 
mummy prototypes. The houses of the virgins of 
the sun were replaced by convents of the various 
sisterhoods of nuns, also called " Brides of the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



403 



Church," who made rich tapestries for their tem- 
ples, now called churches, and beautiful vestments, 
embroidered with gold and gems, for the' images 
and for the priests who ministered before them. 

The priesthood still represented a favorite class 
with many special privileges, and upheld their au- 
thority among the common people by the magnifi- 
cence of their sacerdotal vestments. As in the old 
dynasty, the priestly and cultured class monopo- 
lized the learning of the age. They were the sole 
teachers of youth, and with them, also, all the 
teaching had a politico-ecclesiastical signification. 
Obedience to civo-ecclesiastic authority was still 
the cardinal virtue. 

There was, however, one marked difference be- 
tween the creed of the conquered and the conquer- 
ors. The god of the Inca, although a god of love 
and beneficence, held no parley with sin. Every sin 
merited death. In the theology of the conquerors 
forgiveness for sins already committed and indul- 
gence in sins meditated could be purchased. This 
doctrine placed gold above obedience in the esti- 
mation of the Romish god, and made the priest's 
measure of the purse the arbiter of the conscience. 
The further debasing doctrine that " the end justi- 
fies the means," although stoutly combated by Las 



404 



LA PLATA COUNTRLES 



Casas, the noble Dominican champion of freedom, 
was engrafted on the theology of the New World. 

The propagation of this theology was not left op- 
tional with the conquerors. By the terms of the 
contract made between the Pope and the kings, the 
Romanizing of all conquered countries was obliga- 
tory. For this purpose each company of adven- 
turers was accompanied by its quota of priests, who 
were instructed to explain to the people the pri- 
mary doctrines of Christianity, and especially to 
make them understand that the Pope held the su- 
preme authority on the earth, and had granted the 
right to this particular portion to his servant, the 
king (in the west, of Spain ; in the east, of Portugal), 
and that if they did not obey and embrace Chris- 
tianity they would be put to the sword and their 
wives and children reduced to bondage, — a fate from 
which their submission and baptism did not save 
them. But while the rapacity of the conqueror 
ruthlessly destroyed them, " He gave them the sign 
of the cross as an inestimable talisman to ward off 
the machinations of the devil." 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



405 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

INFLUENCE OF THE JESUITS. 

Within forty years of the discovery of America, 
and within twenty years of each other, two men in 
Europe, destined to leave their impress on the New 
World, were groaning under a consciousness of sin. 
Both made pilgrimages and exhausted established 
ceremonials in vain ; the sense of guilty alienation 
from its Creator, at some time felt by every human 
soul, still weighed them down. So great was the 
agony of mind under which both labored that 
each tells us he was tempted to take his own life, 
and cried out in the depths of his despair, " Who 
will save me from the body of this death ?" Those 
two men were Martin Luther and Ignatius Loyola. 
Eventually both found their way out of this spiritual 
conflict, but by entirely different means. Luther 
turned to the Bible and learned that " By the works 
of the law shall no flesh be justified," and " The just 
shall live by faith." Apprehending the sublime 



4o6 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

doctrine of reconciliation with God through Christ, 
without works, through faith in Christ he rose to 
newness of hfe. Henceforth he would allow no 
visions, no inspirations. The " simple, indubitable 
Word of God" was his foundation and strong support. 
Standing on that rock, he acknowledged man's indi- 
vidual accountability to God alone. Loyola did not 
turn to the Bible, and leaves no intimation that any 
doctrine of the Bible particularly impressed him. On 
the contrary, he gave himself up to mystical medi- 
tations. Convinced by his awakening, as if from a 
dream, that the agonies to which he had been sub- 
jected were the work of the devil, he determined 
not to think longer about his past life; and to open 
the wounds made by his past sins no more, never to 
touch them again. This act of the will needed 
no support from the Scripture, and the peace of 
mind resulting from it " was based on a belief that 
he was surrounded by a world of spirits, with which 
he had an intimate connection." " He lived wholly 
in fantasies and inward apparitions." From that 
time he devoted himself to mystic meditations and 
humiliations of the flesh. His biographer, Bartoli, 
in his work published in 1650, says he "reduced the 
cure of the soul to an art by basing upon certain 
principles of faith an exact and perfect method, 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 407 

which, practised by the application of means pre- 
scribed by him, is almost infallibly successful." 

For their instructor in righteousness, Luther gave 
to his followers a translation of the Bible. Loyola 
gave to his a volume of " Religious Exercises," in- 
culcating ceremonies and bodily tortures, which lie 
at the foundation of the Order of Jesuits founded 
by him. Luther's conversion stamped the idea of 
personal, individual accountability to God on the 
colonies of temperate North America, and thereby 
laid the foundation for the superstructure of civil 
and religious liberty and intellectual expansion. 
Loyola's conversion, if such it can be called, fixed 
the moral and intellectual status of South Amer- 
ica. 

To subjugate the world to the Romish Church 
was the object to which both Spain and Portugal 
had bent their energies and for which they lavished 
their resources, and yet, even in Europe, heresy was 
rampant. " Torquemada with his Holy Inquisi- 
tion, and Alva with his hosts, had burned and slain 
thousands of victims to the infinite delight of their 
master, Philip II., and yet heresy increased." At 
this juncture Loyola proposed another method by 
which to subjugate the world, — a method that 
needed no armies and that would use no violence. 



4o8 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

The world was to be brought into the Papal fold by 
the power of love. Loyola only missed the true 
principle of Christian conquest by so far as he had 
missed the fountain of Christian truth. Loyola was 
a humanitarian to all save his own body and his 
own order, as were also his early followers. The 
principle upon which the early Jesuits went out to 
subdue the world was the same which for two cen- 
turies the Inca had practised on the tribes of the 
New World before resorting to war. The avowed 
object of Loyola and his followers was to bring the 
mhabitants of the world to the feet of the Pope. 
For this purpose, and no other, the Bull was granted 
authorizing the order. Had the Pope's kingdom 
been only a spiritual one, or had the Order of Jesus 
been organized to bring the world to God instead of 
to an earthly vicegerent, and had the order taken 
as their code the unalterable Word of God instead 
of the traditions of men, there had been less room 
for the conflicts that afterwards arose between its 
representatives and the civo-ecclesiastical authorities 
established by the sovereigns. 

The Papal Bull authorizing the Order of Jesus 
was granted in the same year that Pizarro, the con- 
queror of Peru, was slain, which was ten years after 
the doctrines of the Reformation had been pre- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



409 



sented to the Diet of Augsburg. Six years after 
the establishment of the order its first missionaries 
arrived in South America. Within twenty years it 
had a chain of mission stations from Rio de Janeiro 
to Lima, and within fifty years had virtually super- 
seded its predecessors, the Franciscans and Domin- 
icans, as educators of the people, both native and 
European. Their success was due not only to the 
favor in which they were held at court, but espe- 
cially to their humanitarianism ; for " when the 
natives saw that they came not to rob them of their 
gold or silver, nor to despoil them of their women, 
nor to drag them away and sell them into slavery, 
they eagerly conformed in all things essential to the 
rules and doctrines of the fathers." Unfortunately, 
the practice of self-denial did not continue to char- 
acterize the lives of these foreign teachers of mo- 
rality; and the doctrine that "the end justifies the 
means," upon which the rival orders were built, was 
not made ineffective by their teachings. Rivalries 
and antagonisms existed between the several re- 
ligious orders, owing to which, and the complaints 
of the Jesuits that the interference of the civil gov- 
ernors of Paraguay was inimical to the conversion 
of the natives, they were granted authority wholly 
independent of the governors ; and thus the native 
s 35 



4IO LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

villages in Paraguay, known as Reductions and Mis- 
sions, were a kingdom subject only to the Pope, 
within the kingdom of the Spanish monarch, and 
authorized by him. Here, without interference from 
without, they had two centuries in which to develop 
the full scope of their educational ideas. Here they 
established over the peaceful Guaranis on the Parana 
the same kind of civil government that Pizarro had 
just destroyed on the Andes. The people were 
gathered together in towns, and went to the labor 
allotted by their ecclesiastical rulers just as the 
peasantry had done under the Incas. They owned 
no land and held no property rights of any kind. 
The most skilful workman received no more for 
his labor than the dullard, and each had just what a 
master would give to his slave, — merely the food, 
raiment, and lodging that in his opinion might suf- 
fice. Without volition of their own, they were 
taken to work, or to war, wherever their religious 
rulers saw fit. In 1580 they rebuilt the city of Bu- 
enos Ayres, and in 1668 built the city of Santa Fe. 
The large ecclesiastical buildings that are still 
pointed out as the marvels of the Jesuits' skill were 
built by them. Squadrons of them were sent to the 
wars in Uruguay against the Brazilians and detailed 
to build Montevideo. 



OF SOUTH AMEKJCA. 4U 

Children belonged to the Missions, — as under the 
Incas they had belonged to the Empire, — and were 
educated, fed, and clothed under its direct super- 
vision. They were made artisans, and excelled as 
wood-carvers, silver- and gold-smiths ; but further 
than this their education was wholly confined to the 
recitation of a few prayer formulas, and, in excep- 
tional cases, the chants of the choir in the church 
service. As in their western prototype, there were 
two distinct classes of beings in the community, — 
the holy governing class and the common governed 
class. There was, however, this essential difference: 
among the Incas the holy orders and inferior class 
were both natives of the country, and in all their 
inherited sympathies and interests were part and 
parcel of the same nation. In the Jesuits' Reduc- 
tions the privileged class came from another land in 
the full maturity of their intellectual powers, and 
were liable at any time to be transferred to new 
fields. What could there be in common between 
them and those whose labors they had at their 
command? Their government over the thirty Re- 
ductions over which they had absolute control had 
the same effect as had that of the Inca, — it devel- 
oped a people absolutely incapable of self-direction 
and self-preservation. 



412 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



While the government of the Jesuits was absolute 
and their educational efforts untrammelled within 
the Reductions, they were not confined to these. 
Partly through the superior favor in which the 
young order was held, and partly through the sub- 
tlety of their policy, within fifty years they had to a 
great extent monopolized the instruction of youth 
throughout the La Plata country, as in all South 
America. Like their master, they aimed at civil as 
well as spiritual control, and, to attain this, "their 
most subtle policy was to keep the keys of knowl- 
edge as much as possible in their own hands, and 
by giving gratuitous instruction to the youth of 
wealthy families, to proselyte them, and through 
them, or by their aid, to govern the multitude." 
It employed itself in building schools in connection 
with its churches in every considerable centre of 
population ; and when, for political reasons, the 
Order of Jesuits was finally expelled from Portu- 
guese and Spanish America, its university at Sao 
Paulo was one of the most noted schools in Brazil, 
and there were twelve fully-fledged colleges and 
more than fifty incipient ones in the territory now 
represented by the Argentine Republic. In all these 
." the education given was such as would tend to 
make them (the pupils) the passive subjects in the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 413 

hands of their teachers, and instil into their minds 
the conviction that all matters of government, both 
civil and ecclesiastical, should be left to the fathers, 
and that it was presumptuous and sacrilegious for 
laymen to lay claim to any power in such matters." 
A prominent Jesuit father openly declared that the 
education of Americans (of European descent) should 
be confined to reading, writing, and arithmetic. An 
illustration of the ideas of civil government incul- 
cated by them may be found in their catechism, 
published in Cordoba, in which the duties of citi- 
zenship are defined. An edition of this catechism 
was published in Paraguay by the Franciscan Bishop 
of Asuncion, after the declaration of independence, 
with a note to teachers telling them "to take pains 
to explain to the children that in the word king 
every supreme magistrate is comprehended." En- 
dorsed at so late a date by a bishop of the order 
that had received the lion's share of the sequestered 
spoils of the banished order, and which, after the 
Jesuits, was the chief educator of the people, it is 
safe to infer that that catechism was not an insig- 
nificant factor in the preparation of the whole people 
of the La Plata for the duties and responsibilities of 
citizenship. The following is an extract: 

" The state by its organization cannot tolerate or 
35* 



414 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

leave unpunished offences, especially those which 
tend to annihilate religion, which has, since its 
happy union with the state, become the first funda- 
mental law. . . . The prison, then exile, forced 
service, the scourge, confiscation, fire, the scaffold, 
the knife, and death in whatever form are penalties 
justly put in force against the disobedient vassal. . , . 

" Question. Is the vassal obliged to accept and 
suffer penalties ? 

''Answer. Yes ; for they are just and ordained by 
law. 

" Q. Is he bound to execute them himself? 

" A. Yes ; except the gravest or those of a capital 
kind. 

" Q. And must he aid indirectly to execute even 
these ? 

*M. Yes; to show that he accepts and suffers 
them patiently. 

" Q. What is meant by aiding indirectly ? 

"A. To mount the scaffold to be hung, or to bare 
the throat for the axe if beheaded for crime. 

" Q. May the king impose laws upon the vassal ? 

'M. Yes; for God has given him legislative power 
over them. 

" Q. Can he impose laws that shall be binding 
upon their consciences ? 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 415 

"A. Yes; according to the saying of the apostle, 
* Be ye subject, not only for fear of wrath, but also 
through conscientious obligation.' 

" Q. That laws may be binding is it necessary that 
they be generally known ? 

" A. No ; for in that case they would rarely be 
binding, as it is not easy for them to reach the 
knowledge of all. 

" Q. Must the promulgation of the laws be made 
to all the cities of the realm ? 

" A. It is not necessary, and it is enough if it be 
done at the court or another customary place. 

" Q. For the laws to be binding is it necessary for 
the people to accept them ? 

" A. No ; for that would be to govern by their 
own will rather than by that of the sovereign. 

" Q. When the laws seem burdensome what must 
the people do ? 

" A. Obey, and humbly prefer his petition. 

" Q. Is it a sin to murmur against or speak evil 
of kings or magistrates? 

"y4. Yes; for God says, 'Thou shalt not murmur 
against the gods, nor curse the prince of the people.' 

" Q. What kind of a sin is it ? 

"A. A mortal sin if upon a serious subject, or 
venial if upon a light matter. 



41 6 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

" Q. Does he who speaks evil of his ministry 
speak evil of the king ? 

"A. Yes; for they are his envoys and represent 
his person. 

" Q. Whom does he despise who expresses con- 
tempt for the king or his minister? 

** A. He despises God, who says, ' He who de- 
spises you despises Me.' " 

In the introduction to the Paraguayan edition, 
published after independence had been gained, 
" Bishop Urbieta adds a charge addressed to all 
priests, teachers, parents, and other citizens, in 
which he declares that God has inspired the 
supreme government with the idea of reprinting 
this treatise." * 

The University of Cordoba is the highest example 
of the outgrowth of the religion that superseded 
that of the Inca and Guarani, and of the means for 
mental discipline afforded in the La Plata countries 
before the era of independence. Except the College 
of San Marcos, in Lima, it is the oldest institution 
of learning in South America. After an ineffectual 
attempt two years earlier, the College of Saint Fran- 
cis Xavier, the first school of the university, was 

* Washburn's " History of Paraguay." 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



417 



founded in 161 3 by the grant of an annual income 
of two thousand dollars, made by the Franciscan 
Bishop of Tucuman, within whose diocese the city 
of Cordoba was located. Nine years later the 
" Royal University," which granted degrees in 
theology, arts, grammar, and philosophy, was built 
by its side. The course of instruction reminds us 
of Cowper's description of the way in which his 
education was conducted : " They gave me a little 
more Latin." 

The original curriculum comprised theology, phi- 
losophy, and Latin grammar. When the scholars 
had acquired some facility in Latin, scholastic phi- 
losophy followed, and that was followed by scholastic 
and moral theology. The one object in this and all 
other colleges in the country was to make priests. 
In 1845, Sarmiento said of it, "For two centuries 
it has furnished a great part of South America with 
theologians and doctors. . . . Up to 1829 the spirit 
of Cordoba was monastic and scholastic. . . . The 
city is a cloister surrounded by ravines ; the prom- 
enade is a cloister with iron grates ; every square of 
houses is a cloister of nuns or friars ; the colleges 
are cloisters ; the jurisprudence taught there, the 
theology, all the mediaeval scholastic learning of 
the place is a mental cloister, within which the 



41 8 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

intellect is walled up and fortified against every 
departure from book and commentary." 

Nor does this eloquent apostle of popular educa- 
tion seem to have been alone in this estimate of the 
utility of the mental training received there. Dean 
Funes, who made a report of its condition at the 
beginning of the present century, says, " Theology 
had come to share in the corruptions of the Aris- 
totelian philosophy, applied to theology, and had 
resulted in a mixture of spiritual and profane, mere 
human reasonings, deceptive subtleties and sophisms, 
frivolous and misplaced inquiries. Such were the 
conditions under which the ruling tastes of these 
schools had been formed." And he adds that " its 
system of education was not fit to form worthy 
citizens either in a physical or moral point of view." 
Others declared that "the American colleges had 
never been anything but clerical seminaries, in 
which the pupils were subjected to exaggerated 
religious exercises, which deprived them of time 
that should be devoted to more useful things." Up 
to the time of the revolution, except the sons of 
the wealthy, who had been educated in Europe, it 
was difficult to find any one sufficiently educated to 
transact business with ordinary commercial forms. 
In 1807 jurisprudence was added to the university 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 41^ 

courses. When learned Europeans came over to 
survey the Brazihan boundary the Argentines felt 
the need of men of practical accomplishments, and 
the public voice said, " We require useful knowl- 
edge instead of all these absurdities by which you 
make priests and nuns and pettifogging lawyers." 
"Towards the end of the year 1816" (the same year 
in which the National Congress, assembled at Tucu- 
man, declared the independence of all the Spanish- 
Argentine provinces) " Dean Funes succeeded in 
introducing into the ancient university of the city 
the studies previously so much contemned, — mathe- 
matics, living languages, public law, physics, draw- 
ing, and music. From that time the youth of 
Cordoba began to direct their ideas into new 
channels." * 

Until this sensible change in the educational curri- 
culum had been effected by the demands of the revo- 
lution, the chief feature of school education in all the 
La Plata countries was its iron discipline, which was 
eminently calculated, as it was originally designed, 
to make those who went out from the schools the 
teachers of an unreasoning obedience to despotic 
power. That the idea prevailed that religious 

* Sarmiento. 



420 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES. 

authority and civil power were inseparable is ap- 
parent from the fact that the people of the remote 
rural districts often applied to the " captain" of a 
train of merchant carts which chanced to pass their 
way, to baptize their children. Nor did the dissolute 
and deplorably immoral character of the great mass 
of the colonial clergy tend to divorce the popular 
mind from the notion that obedience to power, 
however obtained, was a religious duty. 

That the ecclesiastical training of the country did 
furnish one element in the preparation of the people 
for the submission to the long reign of terror that 
turned populous districts into deserts is also apparent 
from the fact that in Paraguay, where that training 
was most perfect and uninterrupted, the abject 
submission and the final extermination were most 
complete. 

Against this training the natural Spanish disposi- 
tion of haughty independence and proud self-con- 
fidence was inherently at war. And that this dis- 
position, fostered by every other condition of society 
in the New World, must eventually break down the 
artificial walls built up to enslave it was inevitable. 



PART IV. 



PARAGUAY. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

INDEPENDENCE OF PARAGUAY. 

The history of Paraguay has been most anoma- 
lous. As a Spanish-American colony, throughout 
its entire colonial period it was singularly free from 
those bloody revolutions characteristic of the Span- 
ish dominion. This freedom from revolution was 
due to two singular causes. The first of these was 
the civil policy established by Irala. In other parts 
of the continent seized by Spain the natives were 
exterminated or conquered and became slaves. The 
Mestizos resulting from the alliances of the conquer- 
ors with the conquered were, in the eyes of the 
haughty Castilians, a degraded race. Here, on the 
contrary, the alliances formed between the adven- 
turers from the Old World and the peaceful Guaranis 
were sanctified by marriage, and the Mestizos of Para- 
guay, in the first century of its history, were alto- 
gether as honorable as either nation from which they 
sprung, and were recognized as the legitimate heirs 
of all the honors and privileges of both. They re- 

423 



424 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

tained the punctilio of the Spaniard with the simpHc- 
ity of the Guarani, and, living unambitious lives in 
easy abundance, were truly Spanish-Guarani subjects 
— not vassals — of Spain. For a hundred and fifty 
years no Spanish colony increased so rapidly in popu- 
lation or enjoyed so great security of life and property. 
The second cause of Paraguay's unparalleled tran- 
quillity was the peculiar educational influences 
brought to bear upon the nation in the second 
century of its existence. This unforeseen influence 
coming from an external source was the chief agent 
in frustrating the plans of Irala for the future devel- 
opment of the nation he had founded. Ten years 
after the organization of the Order of Jesuits its 
representatives arrived in Paraguay, "and from that 
time the history of the Jesuits is the history of Par- 
aguay." As we have seen, their moulding influence 
is traceable through all the Provinces, but nowhere 
else did they secure the exclusive moulding influ- 
ence accorded to them in the Paraguay Reductions 
by the King of Spain. Each Reduction was ruled 
by two priests (rarely Spaniards), who lived in it. 
One managed its temporal affairs, and the other 
devoted himself to the education of the children 
and the performance of religious ceremonies. As 
already intimated, these Reductions were a repro- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 425 

duction, with slight dififerences, of the hierarchal 
regime established over the laboring class by the 
Inca. With a simple change of the names of the 
divinities worshipped and verbal differences in the 
chants of the laborers while at work under their 
taskmasters, the description of the one is the de- 
scription of the other. The effect of the one as 
traced in Peru by Prescott is precisely the effect of 
the other in Paraguay as traced by Washburn. 

" In the Jesuit pueblos (villages) there were no 
laws, either civil or criminal. The only rule was 
the will of the Jesuit." But even this imperio-hnpc- 
riuni did not satisfy them. "There was something 
inherent in the order that seemed to incite its mem- 
bers to universal dominion. They aspired to influ- 
ence in everything, temporal and political as well as 
spiritual." " They were all the while intriguing to 
get hold of the civil government." By their in- 
trigues after political power the King of Spain at 
length felt himself of less authority than they, and, 
impelled to follow the example of Portugal, he made 
a present to the Pope of all the Jesuits in his do- 
minions. They were expelled from his South 
American possessions in 1767, one hundred and 
fifty-seven years after their admission. The Viceroy 

of Buenos Ayres, to whom was assigned the duty 
36* 



426 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

of having them collected and sent out of the vice- 
royalty, in reporting to his royal master the fulfil- 
ment of the duty, gave the following summary: 

" I had to anticipate its consequences on five 
hundred priests, distributed over a distance of more 
than seven hundred leagues ; possessed of twelve 
colleges ; of one house of residence ; of more than 
fifty estancias and places where they were build- 
ing, which were so many more colleges, and settle- 
ments made up of a vast number of slaves; of 
thirty towns of Guarani Indians, with more than 
one hundred thousand inhabitants, and one hundred 
and twenty thousand Abipones, Macobes, Lulis, and 
various other nations of Chiquitos ; not to speak of 
many more, of whom, on the Jesuitical principle 
of keeping the Indians from all intercourse with the 
Spaniards, we know nothing. . . . The largest col- 
lege, that of Cordoba, is generally reputed as the 
head of the powerful empire of the Jesuits. Empire 
it may truly be called, because, counting Indian 
slaves and other servants, they have in this vast 
country more servants than the king." 

During the century and a half in which the 
Jesuits had had absolute control in thirty cities of 
Paraguay, and in all p^rts the controlling influence 
in moulding education and popular thought, they 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



427 



had so impressed their system on the people that 
for them to have changed without the accession of 
some mental or spiritual force from without would 
have been a miracle. But no transforming thought 
or power from without came to their aid. The Re- 
ductions were ravaged by slave-hunters from Brazil 
and despoiled by unscrupulous rulers placed over 
them. Their remnants, as well as the majority of 
the whole Paraguayan nation moulded by the same 
influence, continued in unthinking, unquestioned 
obedience to existing authority. 

Bernardo Velasco, the Spanish Governor of Para- 
guay at the era of the South American rebellion, 
was a wise and judicious ruler, under whom the 
people were conscious of no violation of their rights, 
and felt no hardship from his authority. Hence 
they had no object in revolution. Their intercourse 
with Buenos Ayres had always been so slight, they 
felt no interest in the political act by which it severed 
its connection with the mother country and flew to 
arms. Nor could it then be induced to join in the 
rebellion. A little later, roused by the assertion of 
the colonies already in arms, — that independence was 
necessary for future safety, — a few of the leading 
men of Asuncion determined to secure it. The 
prudent governor yielded to the demand, and Para- 



428 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

guay ceased to be a dependency of Spain without 
striking a blow or shedding a drop of blood. The 
natural result of its Jesuitical training followed. 

It has been truly said that " the crucial test of a 
good and wise administration is that under it the 
people have advanced in intelligence and grown 
self-reliant and capable of self-government; so that, 
if the existing government or all of its members 
should be removed, the people would be so accus- 
tomed, not only to law and order, but to the respon- 
sibility of power, that they would rapidly improvise 
another, adapted to their necessities, without revo- 
lution or serious embarrassment." 

Proved by this test, all of the Spanish-American 
governments have been lamentable failures, and none 
more so than the much-lauded Jesuits' government 
of Paraguay. Without invidious class distinctions, 
without the turbulent Gaucho element that drenched 
other sections in blood, without the envies and 
hatreds that fired factional rivalries in the colonies 
to the south and west, this colony, planted in the 
" Paradise of the New World," failed to seize the 
hour of its emancipation solely because its educa- 
tional forces had wholly unfitted it for self-govern- 
ment. 

An attempt was made to follow the example of 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



429 



Spain after the deposition of Ferdinand VII., — an 
example that had already been followed in succes- 
sion by each of the revolting colonies, — and a 
governing junta of three persons was resolved upon. 
As the military had always been the strong arm of 
the civil power, the two most popular generals were 
naturally deemed indispensable members of the 
junta. " But neither of these officers knew more 
of letters than the horses they rode. It was nec- 
essary to find one, a native of the country, more 
liberally educated, who knew something of legal 
forms and proceedings, to put the junta in opera- 
tion. Unfortunately, there was but one native of 
Paraguay in the country qualified for the work. 
This was Dr. Francia, who had been educated at 
the University of Cordoba, and whose occupation 
had been to prepare papers, collect and adduce 
evidence in legal cases such as was to be submitted 
to the illiterate judges of such tribunals as then 
existed." 

The junta of three was followed by a joint consu- 
late of tw^o persons, — the commander-in-chief of the 
army and Dr. Francia. " The consular chairs bore 
the names 'Caesar' and 'Pompey.'" But "Caesar," 
alias Dr. Francia, soon got the better of " Pompey," 
and, after sundry diplomatic manoeuvres, among 



43 o ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

which was the caHing of several " Congresses," in 
1 817 he was declared Perpetual Dictator of 
Paraguay. "Thence till 1840 there was no sign 
of authority save the will of Francia, who thought 
no more of putting to death the best men in the 
country than most men do of killing a mosquito." 
It was " but a slight modification of the Jesuits* 
system applied to a people already prepared to re- 
ceive it that produced the merciless reign of Fran- 
cia. It was the Jesuits' system still when the power 
was all concentrated in the hands of the cruel Dic- 
tator, tiie difference being that the power was 
wielded by one man rather than by a hierarchy. 
The people were so emasculated of all sense of 
power or influence in the government that neither 
the Dictator nor the fathers ever could conceive 
of anything so absurd as that any subject could 
have a right that did not accord with the interest, 
caprice, or wishes of the supreme power. This is 
and ever has been, since the days of the Jesuits, the 
conviction, the controlling idea, the consciousness 
of those rulers of Paraguay that the country itself 
has produced." 

There is not a gleam of light in the twenty-three 
years of that dictatorship. " So long as one writes 
of Francia he can tell nothing but a catalogue of 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 431 

crimes committed by a man who had no redeeming 
quality. The whole of his long reign is one per- 
petual wail of misery."* 

Although Spain and Portugal both adopted the 
policy of excluding foreigners from their colonies, 
after the treaty of Utrecht it was impossible to keep 
them entirely excluded from the Spanish Provinces, 
and a few had penetrated as far as Paraguay. The 
Jesuits had carried the same policy into an exagger- 
ated practice, not even permitting Spanish subjects 
to enter the Reductions. Francia continued the 
exaggerated policy of exclusion throughout his 
jurisdiction. No one from abroad was allowed to 
enter Paraguay, and those already there were not 
allowed to leave. In 18 15 two English merchants 
succeeded in getting away, the future Dictator be- 
lieving that through their representations the British 
Government would be induced to become his ally. 
Ten years later the scientists Renger and Long- 
champ and a few Englishmen escaped. In the suc- 
ceeding fifteen dreadful years only the scientist 
Bompland was allowed to leave. With these excep- 
tions, Paraguay was, as it were, hermetically sealed 
from the rest of the world from the appointment of 

- C. H. Washburn. 
36* 



432 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

Dr. Francia until his death in 1840. No news from 
the outside world could penetrate hither. No knowl- 
edge of the affairs of Paraguay could reach the out- 
side world. There was no more intercourse between 
the people of Paraguay and the struggling factions 
across the river than between them and the trans- 
atlantic nations. It was a period of abject terror, 
such as held the people of San Juan under Qui- 
roga and Buenos Ayres under Rosas, but more in- 
tensified, more hopeless. There was no anarchy, 
because there was no untrained spirit to create it and 
no exile to return with it. The system of espionage 
was so perfect that no one dared express a thought 
to his nearest friend lest it reach the Dictator and 
cost him his life. The soldiery, servants, the mem- 
bers of one's own household were his instruments. 
When Francia died the people seemed only in terror 
that his malign power might still follow them. For 
months after they knew his body was dead no one 
dared to speak of him save in a whisper, and with- 
out glancing fearfully over the shoulder, as if ex- 
pecting to see his avenging presence. On his death 
a military y«;//(^ again took the place of a provisional 
government. But as the supreme head of the mili- 
tary (Francia) was gone, it was utterly incapable of 
doing anything. After waiting for about three 



OF SOU Til AMERICA. 433 

months the people began to breathe with a little 
more freedom, seeing that the "defunct" did not re- 
turn to imprison, torture, and slay them, and deter- 
mined to call a "Congress," which was their one 
idea of legalizing a government. 

Carlos Antonio Lopez saw that the government 
could be seized by any hand strong enough to grasp 
it, and resolved that his would be the hand. He 
therefore induced the commander of the army to 
assume the provisional power and call a " Congress" 
of three hundred. In this Congress he acted as 
secretary, and again the executive authority was 
nominally vested in two consuls, General Alonso 
and C. A. Lopez. 

A few words on the Paraguayan method of con- 
stituting a "Congress," and its mode of transacting 
business after being constituted, may not be wholly 
uninteresting, and may serve to throw some light 
on other sections of the La Plata also, it being but 
a slight exaggeration of, if not the exact method 
prevalent in, all. An election, properly so called, 
was unknown. When such an assembly was deemed 
essential, the representative of absolute authority 
(or the aspirant to that position), by whatever name 
known, issued an order naming certain individuals, 

who were commanded to repair to the capital at a 
T cc 37 



434 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

certain time, much as a witness would be sub- 
poenaed in the United States to attend a given 
session of court, and he no more thought of refus- 
ing compHance with the requisition. The order 
usually contained no specifications of the subjects 
to be considered by the Congress ; but when assem- 
bled, such measures as the existing power had 
already determined should be recognized as legal, 
and sanctioned, were presented to be voted on, and 
woe to the man who held an adverse opinion. The 
certainty of this woe insured a unanimous approval. 
Francia never called a Congress after the one that 
acknowledged him as Dictator. A few were called 
by his successors. When such was the case, the 
acts of the executive already done were submitted 
for approval. And such was the influence of edu- 
cation and fear that there is no instance known of a 
dissenting vote. The assembly was called to assent 
to what a dominant will demanded, and for nothing 
else ; and all experience demonstrated that to do 
anything further, even so much as to express an 
opinion or make an inquiry, would be to expose one- 
self to death, accompanied with nameless horrors. 

This mode of election also prevented the possi- 
bility of a " member of the opposition" — if such 
existed — from getting a seat in the assembly. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 4^5 

The Lopez consulate was authorized for three 
years. This gave him time to mature his plans. 
At the end of the term another " Congress" was 
called, to which he proposed to change the form of 
the government to a Federal Republic. It was done, 
and he made himself President for ten years. He 
then dissolved the Congress. As there was no 
organic law for reassembling it, as soon as he had 
dissolved the Congress of 1844 the power of Carlos 
Antonio Lopez was absolute. 

In the mean time Rosas had raised himself to the 
supreme power in Buenos Ayr'es, and after the death 
of Francia refused to acknowledge the independence 
of Paraguay. As it had been a part of the Vice- 
royalty of Buenos Ayres, he chose to consider it as 
properly falling under his administration, and deter- 
mined to possess himself of it. But before his 
thought could be put into effect his career of 
domination was cut short. 

The next year after becoming " President" of the 
"Federal Republic of Paraguay," — that is, in 1845, 
— Lopez established El Paraguay Independiente at 
Asuncion, the first newspaper ever published in 
Paraguay. It was a government organ, " whose 
sole object was to praise Carlos Antonio Lopez." 

The first printing-press in America was brought 



436 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

to Paraguay by the Jesuits, and great honor has 
been accredited to them therefor, as pioneers of 
intellectual culture. The only use, however, made 
of that press or any other established by them 
throughout their vast " Empire in America" was 
the publication of theological treatises. A few of 
this class, issued from the press in the Paraguay 
Missions, in the Guarani tongue, are still extant. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



437 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

DESTRUCTION OF PARAGUAY. 

During the colonial period the wealthy class of 
citizens in all the Provinces were supplied with 
manufactured goods from Europe, The object of 
the exclusion practised by the mother country was 
to secure to Spain the entire trade. One objection 
brought against the Reductions by the secular au- 
thorities was that the traders were excluded from 
them, and that thus the kingdom suffered loss 
through its colonial trade. The complaint went to 
the king, and an arrangement was made for the 
security of the royal revenue, by which Spanish 
traders were admitted to the Reductions. These 
traders transacted their business with an individual 
in the Reduction appointed for the purpose, and did 
not come in contact with the people themselves. 
During the early part of the dictatorship of Francia 
he allowed goods to be entered at Villa del Pilar, 
the most southern port on the Paraguay River, but 
37* 



438 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

he did not allow a single vessel of any nationality 
to ascend beyond its mouth on the Parana. Rosas 
was then pursuing the same policy at the mouth of 
the La Plata; and Brazil, in order to traffic with its 
La Plata Provinces, was subjected to all the hard- 
ships of colonial times. To keep up its difficult 
and uncertain intercourse with these Provinces, four 
circuitous water-routes were followed. The greater 
part of its trade was carried on by the original one 
discovered by the Mamalucos of Sao Paulo in the 
seventeenth century. By it merchandise intended 
for Cuyuba, the capital of Matto Grosso, was re- 
ceived at Santos, the Atlantic seaport in latitude 
24°, and carried thence on muleback up the steep 
ledges of the Serra do Mar to Sao Paulo. Thence 
it was carried eighty miles west to the village of 
Porto Feliz, and embarked in canoes on the Tiete, 
down which it was taken to the mouth of the Pardo. 
The course of the Tiete is interrupted by about 
fifty falls, around which goods and canoes must be 
carried by carts or on the backs of the navigators. 
Arrived at the mouth of the Pardo, the persevering 
navigators rowed up that stream to its source. 
Thence the goods and boats were again carried, 
partly by slaves and partly by soulless beasts of 
burden, over the crest of the Serra do Jaci and em- 



I^AP ShowiviQ the rvu/es 

iih ?te LA PLATA PROVINCES 

Uihle to BRAZIL hcihre the 

openinq of the RIO DE LA PLATA. 




EXPLANATION 

_ BrazJUxtrvliirunda}^ lint!, 

, -. li 'Slountjinn^ chains crossed 
AvailahU portions of RrnriTtiarketl hy Cnlor - 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



439 



barked on the head-waters of the Tocari, a branch 
of the Paraguay. Down this it floated to its mouth, 
and was thence rowed up the Paraguay to the mouth 
of the Cuyuba, and up that stream to the city of 
the same name, which stood near its banks. 

By the second route, merchandise was received 
from the ocean ships at Para, in i° south latitude, 
and taken thence up the Tocantins River to its 
source; carried across the Serra do Santo Martha 
to the Paranahibo, which, after its union with the 
Grande, becomes the Parana; down it to the mouth 
of the Pardo; thence up the Pardo, and continued as 
by the first route. 

A still more circuitous way was followed, up the 
Amazon and its tributary, the Topajos, to its source; 
thence carried on shoulders over the Serra do Dia- 
mantino to the village of Matto Grosso; thence 
down the Paraguay to the mouth of the Cuyuba, 
and up that stream as before. 

But Brazil's easiest — although longest — water-way 
of reaching this Provincial capital was by the Ama- 
zon and Madeira Rivers to the source of the Gua- 
pore ; thence a few leagues of land carriage and 
down the Paraguay. 

The shortest of these routes required ten months 
of hard labor, and by none of them could a caravan 



440 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

effect more than one round trip yearly. The dif- 
ficulties encountered in their transit doubled or 
trebled the cost of all foreign commodities to the 
consumer. But these tedious river voyages were 
less dreaded than the overland journeys that in- 
volved climbing a succession of mountain ridges, 
traversing barren sand downs, and encountering the 
hostility of unconquered tribes of Indians. Even 
the most circuitous river highway did not give ex- 
emption from such hostilities, and a mercantile cara- 
van necessarily included an armed guard. 

One of the first acts of the Government of Bu- 
enos Ayres, after the overthrow of Rosas, was to 
declare the La Plata free to the ships of all nations. 
The next year (1853) the United States sent out Lieu- 
tenant Thomas Page, in command of the " Water- 
Witch," to explore the La Plata tributaries. It was 
a purely scientific expedition, and its results were 
made public for the benefit of all governments and 
individuals alike. Nor were any nations more di- 
rectly interested in the results or so much to be ben- 
efited thereby as those whose territories bordered 
their banks. To Brazil this exploration was of para- 
mount importance. If steam navigation were dem- 
onstrated as easily practicable on the Paraguay and 
its tributaries, the advantage to her in substituting it 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 44I 

for the old laborious methods of communication 
with her inland Provinces would be incalculable. 

President Lopez was more liberal in his policy 
than Dr. Francia had been. He had built some 
boats for the navigation of the rivers bounding his 
territory and kept up a little commerce with the 
neighboring States, but he could not brook the idea 
of the freedom of the Paraguayan waters, and as he 
held control of both the Parana and Paraguay above 
their junction, it was in his power to hold them 
closed against the vessels of other nations. This 
he was determined to do. For the benefit of Para- 
guay he was finally induced to give Lieutenant 
Page permission to explore those rivers as far as 
the limits of Paraguay, but no farther ; because, as 
he said, if he should allow an American boat to 
pass his boundary, Brazil and other nations could 
claim the same privilege for their merchantmen. 
With a Brazilian permit, he did, however, ascend to 
Coimbra, and reported that there were two hundred 
and fifty miles of the river-course between the 
uppermost settlement under the Paraguayan Govern- 
ment and the first settlement under the Brazilian 
Government without a civilized habitation. 

The report of his survey was most flattering to 
commercial interests; but Lopez was incensed at 



442 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

the privilege taken of going beyond his boundary, 
and from that time put obstructions in the way of the 
further execution of the enterprise, which had to be 
abandoned in that part of the Plata system, Brazil 
afterwards sent up an armament to try to force him 
to yield the freedom of the river, but the armament 
was defeated. Negotiations were finally effected 
by which Brazil was allowed to send one steamer 
per month to the city of Cuyuba, by the way of the 
Paraguay River, With many troublesome restric- 
tions and occasional interruptions and complaints on 
both sides of breach of contract, this arrangement 
was continued until the death of Lopez L, which 
occurred in 1862. A limited freedom of the waters 
was also accorded to other powers. 

Although an extremely selfish and avaricious 
man, Carlos Antonio Lopez was not of a sanguinary 
disposition like his predecessor. As his ideas of 
government were derived wholly from Francia and 
Jesuitical influences, it could not be other than an 
absolute despotism. His system of espionage was 
as perfect. But as taxes rather than blood was his 
uppermost idea, under him the people enjoyed more 
security in their homes and more prosperity than at 
any time during their independence, Charles H. 
Washburn, commissioner and minister resident of 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 443 

the United States at Asuncion from 1861 to 1868, 
gives the following description of rural domestic life 
in this period of comparative security : 

"Just in the selvage, or on the borders of the 
woods next to the plains, the inhabitants have 
their dwelling-houses. A description of one will 
answer to four-fifths of all. They are usually of 
adobes, thatched, having two or three rooms, the 
largest of which is perhaps fifteen by twenty feet. 
This is the dining- and sitting-room, while the 
others serve for sleeping-rooms. Besides this 
main house there will be several other hovels 
for slaves, or peons, besides the cook-house. There 
is always an abundance of orange trees, and gen- 
erally, near by, a rude mill for grinding the sugar- 
cane, and a sugar-house or shed under which one 
or two boilers are set for boiling down the syrup. 
At the time of harvest the gathered maize is sus- 
pended or stacked in the husk near the house, 
elevated from the ground to keep it from mice, etc. 
Being no mills, the corn is pounded in mortars made 
from a log of lapacho tree, generally eighteen inches 
in diameter and three feet high. The peon women, 
while pounding it with their pestles, beat a kind 
of dull music till the grain is sufificiently pulverized. 
Every family had a large number of pSons, with 



444 



PLATA COUNTRIES 



many children, generally nude. The peons are of 
mixed Spanish, Indian, and negro blood, the Indian 
largely predominating. There were no stables. 
The cattle grazed in common on the plains in front, 
and each family had enough for its needs. Near 
the house is usually a patch of maize, of sugar-cane, 
of cotton, of mandioco, and of tobacco, all rarely 
exceeding two and a half or three acres. Yet on 
this was raised the family supplies for the entire 
year. They also keep chickens. Beef is always 
cheap in the market of the capital. A puchero 
(meat stew) was the principal dish. A bit of boiled 
mandioco was laid beside each plate, also a bit of 
corn-bread or chipa. After this, dulce" (preserves or 
any kind of sweetmeats). " When the meal was 
concluded a gourd of water was passed around to 
each one at the table, and with a large draught the 
meal was concluded. This was the average meal 
of a family from one year's end to another for dinner 
and supper. Tea and coffee were scarcely known. 
Wine was never used except at festivals. Potatoes 
are not raised in the country. The mandioco is, 
however, a good substitute. This is a root something 
like a sweet potato, but more nutritious. It grows 
usually from six to ten inches long and from one 
and a half to two inches thick, covered with a thick 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



445 



skin that easily peels off. It is eaten boiled and 
roasted. When boiled has very little taste. Unless 
cooked soon after ripe, it does not become soft. A 
fine flour is made from it in the same way that starch 
is made from potato. The flour is used for the 
cJiipa or bread. It is made by mixing the flour with 
pulverized cheese and suet or lard and then baked. 
When fresh it is delicious, but hard to digest, owing 
to the cheese. It soon hardens and becomes unpal- 
atable. The cheaper, coarser chipa is made from 
maize. These are the only things like bread known 
to the natives. Wheat is not grown, and the flour 
imported is used by foreigners." 

Even this picture of simple rural prosperity and 
domestic felicity was destined to be overshadowed 
and soon blotted out. On the death of Carlos An- 
tonio Lopez, now known as Lopez I., his reputed 
son, Francisco Solano Lopez, declared himself his 
successor by the will of the deceased, during whose 
life he had been invested with much power, and 
already held the military under his command. His 
succession was therefore speedily ratified by the 
army. Then began a re-enactment of all the bloody 
horrors of the bloodiest eras known to any age, 
until in comparison the people might even have 
sighed for Francia's mild reign. But agencies were 
38 



446 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

already at work destined to cut short the darkest 
day of human woe with the blackest night of human 
terror. 

Although by the treaty of 1859 its independence 
was guaranteed, neither Brazil nor the Argentine 
States were yet reconciled to yield the old claim to 
Uruguay. In 1863, Venancio Flores, the candidate 
of the " Colorado" party, was defeated for the Presi- 
dency of Uruguay, and after his defeat took refuge 
in Buenos Ayres. Uruguay then enjoyed a respite 
of comparatively good government under President 
Berro, the leader of the " Blanco" party. As was 
the custom of defeated aspirants for power, General 
Flores set himself to gain his object by collecting 
forces to eject his successful rival from the Presi- 
dential chair. This is known as the third Flores 
insurrection. It is claimed that Flores organized 
troops and gathered forces and stores for it while in 
Buenos Ayres, and that that government connived 
at these proceedings. Returning to Uruguay, he 
was further reinforced from the Brazilian Province 
of Rio Grande, and began war against the existing 
government. Acting President Aguierre (constitu- 
tional successor of Berro) remonstrated with the 
powers on each side of the Banda Oriental, and 
represented to them that great injury was being sus- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 447 

tained by his county through their connivance in 
the course pursued by General Flores. These re- 
monstrances were ineffectual. But while Uruguay 
was thus harassed, Brazil took occasion to present 
a claim of fifty counts against Uruguay for damages 
said to have been sustained by its citizens through 
the insurrections in Uruguay, and demanded imme- 
diate settlement. President Aguierre answered that 
Uruguay likewise held a similar list against Brazil for 
like infringements of the rights of its citizens, and that 
the two would probably nearly balance each other, 
and expressed a willingness to attend to their ad- 
justment at a convenient time, but added that owing 
to the complication of difficulties with which the 
Uruguayan Government was then contending, partly 
owing to the culpable negligence of Brazil in allow- 
ing reinforcements to go from its territory to the 
assistance of General Flores, attention could not at 
that time be given to the adjustment of those claims. 
Brazil then sent its ultimatum : Uruguay must pay 
those claims within six days or the Brazilian army 
would invade its territory. Its fleet was already 
anchored in the Bay of Montevideo, ready to be- 
siege the city at the expiration of the time speci- 
fied. 

In this strait the President of Uruguay appealed 



448 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



to Lopez II., of Paraguay, for assistance, represent- 
ing that if the national existence of Uruguay were 
destroyed Paraguay could not hope for safety, or 
that its territory would be respected. Lopez II. 
declined to send assistance to Uruguay or to form 
an alliance with its harassed government. But he 
notified Brazil that he would regard any invasion of 
Uruguay as threatening the safety of Paraguay. 
This, he afterwards claimed, was a declaration of 
war in the event of a Brazilian invasion of Uruguay. 
Brazil paid no attention to the threat, but when the 
six days of its ultimatum had expired blockaded 
Montevideo with its fleet and threw its land forces 
into Uruguay, With this assistance, General Flores 
forced Aguierre to resign the government, and Sen- 
ator Villaba, then the constitutional head of affairs, 
opened negotiations with the besiegers. General 
Flores was then declared President of Uruguay. 
Thus the Uruguayan Government that had appealed 
to Lopez II. was extinct, and that which had taken 
its place was in reality a creature of Brazil. 

When Lopez II. knew that Brazil had disregarded 
his protest, he considered himself at war with that 
power, and fired into the Brazilian mail steamer, the 
" Marquis of Olinda," on its regular trip to Matto 
Grosso, November 14, 1864. The steamer had no 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 440 

means of defending itself, and was taken by the 
Paraguayans and all on board thrown into prison. 
Brazil did not consider the warning formerly given 
by Lopez II. as a declaration of war, and saw fit to 
construe the attack upon the " Marquis of Olinda" 
as an unwarranted insult to the nation in a time of 
peace. She therefore immediately declared war and 
solicited the Argentine Republic to join with her. 
This solicitation was ineffectual. 

Lopez II. was ready for war, and was anxious to 
carry it into Brazilian territory. To this end he 
asked permission to cross his troops through the 
Argentine Province of Corrientes. This was re- 
fused on the same alleged ground that had been 
given to Brazil, namely, that the Argentine Republic 
proposed to observe a strict neutrality. Lopez II. 
retaliated upon the Argentine Republic for the re- 
fusal of his request by sending an ai-my against the 
capital of Corrientes, and destroyed that city. This 
act incensed the Argentine people and government, 
and they no longer hesitated to join Brazil in offen- 
sive measures. Brazil, the Argentine Republic, and 
Uruguay then united as " The Triple Alliance," bind- 
ing the three governments unitedly to wage war 
against Paraguay until its existing government 

should be destroyed. 

dd 38* 



45 O ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

" Lopez was the Pope of Paraguay, in the full 
exercise of temporal power, and his government 
that which for ages the Jesuits have labored to 
establish throughout the world." * He now seemed 
to feel himself invincible, and boasted that when he 
should fall not a Paraguayan would survive him. 
He immediately called a " Congress," which, of 
course, approved of all he had done or might do, 
and conferred on him the title of Marshal. From 
that day the only newspaper in Paraguay was filled 
with fulsome praises of Marshal Lopez, dictated by 
himself It was regarded with interest by the citi- 
zens, not as giving any reliable news of the situa- 
tion of the country and the pending conflict, but 
as indicating upon what subjects it would be safe 
to speak with each other. No newspapers from 
other countries were allowed to reach those to 
whom they were addressed (except to members of 
the foreign diplomatic corps) until they had first 
been opened and examined by " the Postmaster- 
General of Paraguay," to see that they contained no 
remarks adverse to the policy or greatness of the 
Marshal. 

Lopez n. did not hesitate to sustain himself in 

* Washburn. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



451 



despotic power by the system of espionage practised 
by his predecessors, and to make it yet more effec- 
tive he added the priests to the detective agencies 
employed by Lopez I., and by means of the confes- 
sional read the inmost thoughts of his subjects. 
Thus, however guarded had been the lips through 
life, the dying confession, by which alone it was 
believed the soul could receive absolution and gain 
eternal rest, might be and was wrested to convict 
the living of treason against the Marshal. 

It is said that in the settlement of the country no 
part of the New World had received so many noble 
families as Paraguay, but long before the final scene 
in the tragedy nearly every family of noble blood 
had been destroyed. To lift the veil on the horrors 
of those years, in which all that remained of the 
better instincts of mankind were trampled out, 
would be but to harrow human sensibilities. 

The population of Paraguay at the death of Lopez 
L, in 1862, is not known, but was probably eight 
hundred thousand or more. Washburn expresses 
the opinion that the exact number could not possibly 
be ascertained within one hundred thousand. He 
further estimates that there could not have been 
over ten thousand in the entire Paraguayan army 
at the close of the war, although all boys over ten 



452 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

years of age had been drafted into it, and the menial 
service of the camp was performed by women. He 
charges Lopez II. of going into eternity with the 
slaughter of seven hundred thousand of his people 
on his soul. Other estimates place the loss of life 
as high as one million. 

The natural disposition of the Paraguayan people, 
as their whole national existence shows, was entirely 
unwarlike. They had an intense hatred for and fear 
of the Brazilians, engendered by the slave-hunting 
raids of the Mamalucos, by which the harmless citi- 
zens had been carried off by thousands to be sold 
in Rio de Janeiro. In this war they were carefully 
instructed that the object of the Brazilians was to 
capture and carry the people into slavery. With 
the fear of Brazilian slavery on the one hand and of 
the Marshal on the other they continued the des- 
perate struggle. 

True to his threat to leave no Paraguayan to sur- 
vive his fall, when forced to retreat, the Marshal 
detailed bands of soldiers to drive all the inhabi- 
tants before them, leaving the country desolate. 
" The people had scarcely anything to eat except 
what they could pick up in the woods and deserted 
country, and seldom in the history of this world has 
such misery been endured as by these helpless 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



453 



women and children. Thousands and tens of thou- 
sands of them died of actual starvation." In the last 
few months of the struggle, when enough soldiers 
could not be spared to do this work effectually, the 
guard was ordered to cut the throats of the people 
before leaving them, when they could no longer 
keep them beyond the reach of the invading army. 
The command was faithfully executed. But even 
then some pitiable, naked, starving stragglers fell 
into the hands of the invaders. 

The Paraguayan war ended with the death of 
Lopez II., who was killed at Aquidaban, March i, 
1870, and the victorious army of the "Triple Alli- 
ance" became the guardian of Paraguay until a 
native government should be organized to take 
charge of it. 

The Paraguayan war was doubly a war of exter- 
mination. The allies determined to exterminate 
Lopez II., and he determined that his people should 
first be exterminated. The extension of its com- 
merce and its boundaries might have been a suf- 
ficient motive for Brazil, aside from the question of 
national etiquette and the presumable insult to its 
flag. But a higher and a more disinterested motive 
doubtless moved many of the Argentine patriots 
and added to the zest with which they rushed to 



454 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

the vindication of their own wrong. They had just 
succeeded in freeing themselves from a similar 
tyranny to that which they believed bound the 
people of their sister nation, and sincerely believed 
that the Paraguayan people could only be freed 
from that odious tyranny by outside interference. 
The Argentine exiles who had so recently returned 
to free their own land were now ready to lay down 
their lives in the disinterestedly humane attempt to 
rescue others as enthralled as they had been. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



455 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

RECONSTRUCTION OF PARAGUAY. 

During the administration of Lopez I., while the 
ports of Paraguay were not wholly closed, a number 
of Paraguayans had gone into the neighboring Prov- 
inces, ostensibly for the prosecution of business en- 
terprises. In reality they were exiles. On the 
downfall of Lopez II. several of these returned with 
enlarged views of government, gained by intercourse 
with those more liberally instructed. These, the 
io-v^ deserters who had gone over to the invading 
army and were now set free, and the scanty frag- 
ments of the army of Lopez, were all there was from 
which and by which to make a new government for 
the nation that might arise from the ashes of the 
one so completely destroyed. 

The old Paraguayan nation was dead. The new 
Paraguayan nation was not yet born. The country 
was wholly devastated and its towns in ruins. Of 
the remnant of its people nine out of ten were 



456 ^A PLATA COUNTRIES 

women, and over these the self-constituted execu- 
tioners of the old nation held a claim of ^235,100,000 
for the costs of the war, and an additional undefined 
amount for the indemnity of their citizens. Yet in 
the face of all these discouragements, that little 
handful of exiles and war- and pestilence-worn vet- 
erans set themselves to fashion a constitutional gov- 
ernment that should foster a nation into life. It is 
a sublime picture. The hurrying nineteenth cen- 
tury may well pause to contemplate it. 

A provisional governing junta was formed, con- 
sisting of three natives of Paraguay, two of whom 
had been in exile since before the war; and on 
November 25, 1870, a constitution similar to that 
of the Argentine Republic (and to that of the 
United States) was adopted. It guarantees security 
of person and property, religious liberty, and sum- 
mary punishment to any one who may attempt to 
make himself dictator. The government then estab- 
lished is in three departments, — Executive, Legisla- 
tive, and Judicial. The Chief Executive is called 
President, and, together with a Vice-President, is 
elected for a term of four years. They are chosen 
by presidential electors chosen by the people. 
Each district is entitled to four times as many 
presidential electors as it has senators and depu- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 457 

ties. The President's Cabinet is composed of a 
Minister of the Interior, Minister of Finance, Min- 
ister of Justice, Public Worship, and Public Instruc- 
tion, and Minister of War and the Navy. The 
President's annual salary is six thousand dollars, that 
of the Vice-President three thousand dollars, and of 
each member of the Cabinet eighteen hundred dol- 
lars. 

The Legislative Department consists of a Senate 
and a House of Deputies, The senators and dep- 
uties are chosen directly by the people, A senator 
is allowed for every twelve thousand inhabitants, 
and a deputy for every six thousand. Six years 
constitutes the senatorial term, and four years that 
of the deputies. One-third of the former and one- 
half of the latter are elected every two years. Both 
senators and deputies receive an annual salary of 
five hundred dollars. 

The Judicial Department consists of a Supreme 
Court, with three judges, and inferior courts. Each 
judge of the supreme bench receives a salary of one 
hundred and fifty dollars per annum. 

Old Paraguay, or the portion of Paraguay lying 
east of the Paraguay River, is divided into twenty- 
three parts called Partidos. Each Partido is gov- 
erned by a chief of police (military governor), as- 
u 39 



458 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES ' 

sisted by a committee of administration. The portion 
lying west of the Paraguay is still unsurveyed, and is 
almost wholly in possession of wild tribes of Indians. 
Before the ratification of the treaty of limits with 
the Argentine Republic, that nation had made Villa 
Occidental, on the Paraguay River, the capital of this 
part of the Gran Chaco. On its award to Paraguay, 
that nation continued if as the capital of its Ter- 
ritory of Gran Chaco and changed its name to Villa 
Hayes. On the 26th of March, 1872, the constitu- 
tionally-elected Government of Paraguay concluded 
a treaty of limits with Brazil, by which the latter 
gained as a war indemnity thirteen hundred and 
twenty-nine square miles of territory, — the very por- 
tion of the old Missions it had always coveted, in 
addition to that formerly ceded by Spain to Por- 
tugal. 

The bed of the Parana was then fixed as the 
boundary between the two nations, from the mouth 
of the Paraguay to the great falls of the Parana 
(Salto Grande), south latitude 27° 27'. Besides this 
cession of territory, Brazil claimed a cash indemnity 
of two hundred million dollars, which Paraguay 
promised to pay. The Argentine Republic com- 
puted its war claim at thirty-five million dollars, and 
Uruguay estimated its claim at one hundred thou- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 4^^ 

sand dollars. On the 20th of April, 1883, Uruguay- 
waived its claim against Paraguay for this one 
hundred thousand dollars of war indemnity, thus 
giving a tangible proof that it wishes the prosperity 
of its impoverished neighbor. Of course, the impov- 
erished nation has nothing with which to pay either 
the Argentine or Brazilian claims, nor yet the 
interest, much less the long list of claims for indem- 
nity of citizens. But so long as both nations hold 
those claims, either may construe an attempt upon 
the part of the other to appropriate territory in 
liquidation thereof as detrimental to her interests 
and a sufficient ground for armed intervention. 

One of the first acts of the new government was 
to negotiate a loan in Great Britain, ostensibly for 
internal improvements. The disposition made of 
this loan was not satisfactorily accounted for to the 
people, and when the interest fell due there were 
no funds with which to meet it ; consequently the 
credit of the new nation was destroyed, or rather 
failed to get existence. Notwithstanding this added 
disaster it struggled on, its patient people still 
hoping against hope, and its condition has been 
gradually, slowly, but surely improving. Before 
the war a principal part of the wealth of Paraguay 
consisted in its immense herds of cattle. At the 



460 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

close of the war there were not enough left in 
the country to furnish beef for the people. In the 
intervening years considerable numbers of cattle 
have been taken over from the Argentine Province 
of Corrientes to restock its estancias, until, in 1882, 
it was estimated that there were five hundred thou- 
sand in the country. 

Since the war the burden of labor has rested on 
the women, who are industrious to the last degree. 
They dig, plant, tend, and gather the crops, and 
then, too poor to find other means of conveyance, 
uncomplainingly trudge off to market with the prod- 
uce upon their heads. Judging by a law passed in 
1883, some of the " lords of creation" have been 
willing they should bear the burdens alone. That 
law decrees that every able-bodied man who has no 
visible occupation and refuses to work, shall be sent 
to a penal colony in the Gran Chaco as a vagrant 
and put to work. As in the old nation, the laborers 
are of the mixed Guarani race and speak the Guarani 
tongue. Few of the Spanish-speaking population 
are found outside of the towHs, and much the larger 
part of them live in Asuncion and its environs. 
Among them are many individuals as cultivated and 
refined as are to be found in any Spanish-American 
city. All classes are noted for their kind disposi- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 461 

tion and unbounded hospitality. " Under exceed- 
ingly adverse circumstances they have proved them- 
selves as generous as they are brave." 

One of the first steps taken by the new govern- 
ment was to invite immigration, and it has con- 
tinued persistently in the attempt to recruit its pop- 
ulation from the excess of European nations. To 
that end it has offered favorable terms for tracts of 
land for colonization to emigration societies in the 
several countries of Europe. The British Govern- 
ment made haste to publish a manifesto warning the 
subjects of Her Majesty of the dangers and diffi- 
culties to be encountered there, but did not wholly 
deter them. The societies on the Continent were 
also measurably successful, — so much so that the 
population of Paraguay increased thirty-three per 
cent, between 1870 and 1876. In 1873 there were 
two thousand three hundred foreigners within its 
bounds, and in 1879 the number had increased to 
seven thousand. One-third of these immigrants were 
Italians. Next after these in number were, succes- 
sively, Brazilians, Argentines, Spaniards, and Portu- 
guese. 

While the general invitation given could not dis- 
criminate between nationalities, a strong desire was 
felt to induce Germans to settle in the country, and 
39* 



462 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

no available means have been neglected for spread- 
ing throughout Germany an intimation of the cor- 
dial welcome awaiting them; but up to 1876 only 
ninety persons had availed themselves of it. In 
1 88 1 there were three hundred and fifty Germans 
in Paraguay. 

In 1882 Congress passed a law providing for 
the sale of its public domain, which comprises 
nearly the whole country. By this law the lands 
are distinguished, according to their nature, as agri- 
cultural and grazing lands. The Minister of the 
Interior is authorized to establish agricultural colo- 
nies on the former and dispose of the latter to estan- 
ceros. In disposing of lands for colonization, pref- 
erence is to be given to those lying along the course 
of navigable rivers and actual or proposed railroad 
routes. The agricultural lands are divided into lots 
of forty acres each, and immigrants who settle on 
them are entitled to receive from the national treas- 
ury an amount sufficient to pay their passage from 
the port where they embarked, to build a house and 
purchase the necessary farming implements and 
stock, and provisions for the family for six months, 
or, in extraordinary cases, for a year ; and at the end 
of a five-years' residence thereon, to the deed to 
eighty acres of land. Each immigrant also has the 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 463 

right to purchase four additional lots at forty cents 
per acre. 

The grazing lands are distinguished in three 
classes, according to their quality or accessibility. 
The prices fixed by government on these three 
classes are fifteen hundred dollars, one thousand 
dollars, and eight hundred dollars, respectively, per 
square league. This offer is already attracting the 
attention of foreigners, and several have embarked 
and are preparing to embark in the experiment of 
cattle raising. 

Upon its acquisition, the region about Villa Hayes 
was offered for colonization, and now there is a 
thriving agricultural community established there. 
It is found that the lands in the vicinity of settle- 
ments of English and German agriculturists soon 
double in value. 

Liberal inducements are also proposed to immi- 
grants wishing to engage in manufacturing indus- 
tries. In 1 88 1 an English company started a pot- 
tery at Aragua, forty miles from Asuncion, on the 
railroad, and is said to be doing well. 

The results thus far have been so encouraging 
that Paraguayan colonization schemes are receiving 
increasing attention in the Old World. The vari- 
ous emigration committees in Germany, at a meeting 



464 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

in Frankfort, in January, 1884, resolved to push the 
matter. The Geographical Society of Leipsic has 
been using its influence in the same direction for 
some time. Nor is it probable that there is any 
part of the world in which actual settlers can find 
better lands or a finer or healthier warm climate 
awaiting them. The mercury in the summer ranges 
from 85° to 98° Fahrenheit at Asuncion, and has 
rarely if ever been known to go above ioo°. The 
winter temperature seldom falls below 40°. The 
average annual rainfall is about five feet. The sur- 
face of the country is diversified. Along the Para- 
guay River the eastern shore presents an unbroken 
line of forests. On the western side immense tracts 
of prairie are varied with groves of palm and cocoa 
trees. Ranges of low mountains traverse the north- 
ern part of the eastern division, or Paraguay proper, 
and the southern part is principally low prairies, 
with many lagoons covered with a rank vegetation. 
The forests are an inestimable source of wealth. 
Owing to the timber having been a royal monopoly 
during colonial times, and a monopoly of nativ< 
tyrant rulers afterwards, they are still almost in th« 
state of their primeval magnificence. Among fores', 
trees, seventy kinds have been classified as suitabU 
for building purposes and forty-three for mechanica 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 465 

uses and cabinet-work, thirty-eight as fruit-bearing 
and eight as producing material that can be woven. 
Several of these varieties of timber are unknown to 
the forests of the United States. As immigration 
continues, the export of lumber and other products . 
of the forests promises to become a business that 
will assume large proportions. The ordinary clothing 
of the laboring population, as well as of the Indians 
of the Chaco, is made by them from indigenous 
textile plants. Among these is cotton, which grows 
luxuriantly, and the shrub-like plants continue bear- 
ing from ten to twelve years. Of the fruit-bearing 
trees known also in North America, the most com- 
mon is the orange. Large tracts of land are covered 
with it, growing wild, and almost every country- 
house is embowered in their beautiful foliage. Im- 
mense quantities of the fruit are consumed by the 
people, and more than ten millions are annually 
exported to the cities on the La Plata. They are 
carried in open piles on the deck of river steamers, 
and passengers are at liberty to help themselves at 
will. Other natural fruits are made into dulce, a 
moderate portion of which finds its way into the 
neighboring republics. Paraguayan dulce-cakes are 
regarded as a luxury in the cities on the Parana and 
La Plata. They are made like a "jelly-cake," with 



466 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

alternate layers of the native pastry or bread called 
chipa and duke, and are coated with a frosting of 
white sugar sometimes ornamented with colors. 
Although of a pleasant flavor, they are hard and 
dry when they reach those markets. 

Of cultivated crops mandioca has always been 
regarded as the most important, supplying as it does 
the principal vegetable for the table and the common 
bread of the people. Tobacco is also regarded as 
an indispensable crop. Men, women, and children 
smoke cigarettes, and are rarely seen without them 
in their mouths. Nine hundred and seventy-five 
thousand pounds of tobacco were exported in 1882. 
A part of this was in the form of cigars, which 
are made by women. Soil and climate are alike 
favorable to the growth of the coffee tree, and 
attention is beginning to be directed to its cultiva- 
tion in large plantations. The labor of these also 
falls upon the women. Except in these and the 
newly-established agricultural colonies, the culti- 
vated crops are confined to the chacras surrounding 
the country houses. The average size of the chacra 
is less than three acres, and on it the whole sup- 
plies of the family are raised. The total area of 
cultivated lands and crops in 1882 was given as 
follows : 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



467 



Crops. 


Acres. 


Maize, wheat, and barley . 


. 210,000 


Mandioca 


. 125,700 


Tobacco . . . • . 


. 41.500 


Sugar-cane .... 


• 23,450 


CoUon and other crops 


50,000 


Total 


. 450,650 



From its earliest history, ycrba Diate, or Paraguay 
tea (botanical name Ilex Paragitayensis), has gained a 
greater notoriety than any other article produced in 
Paraguay, and has been the chief source of revenue. 
From it Francia and the two Lopezes gained their 
enormous wealth, as did the Jesuit fathers before 
them. Lopez L annually exported about eight 
hundred thousand dollars' worth. The last year of 
his life the export, of which he had the monopoly, 
amounted to more than twelve million pounds, of 
which the value was between five and six million 
dollars. The curing of mate, which, like all other 
native industries, was almost wholly destroyed during 
the war, has revived with the return of peace and 
is regaining something of its former importance. 
Eleven million nine hundred thousand and twenty- 
four pounds were exported in 1 881, of which the 
official value was ^996,752. 

It was from the universal use of the leaves of 
this plant in what was then known as Peru that 



468 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

Europeans derived the custom of tea drinking. 
Paraguay tea was introduced into Europe fifty years 
before the Chinese herb was known there. It is 
said that the latter gained the precedence by an 
opinion which some physicians were hired to give 
by parties interested in the traffic, that the Para- 
guay tea was injurious to health. Quite as rea- 
sonable an explanation might be found in the dif- 
ferent business methods of the parties engaged or 
interested in the traffic from the two sections of the 
globe. 

The plant is indigenous to the entire northern 
part of the La Plata basin, and grows spontaneously 
throughout a wider district than the combined areas 
of France and Germany. In no part, however, does 
it reach such perfection as in the locality from which 
it took its name. The finest species is said to be 
found only in a comparatively small district lying 
north of Asuncion and east of the Paraguay River. 
This variety would probably thrive under cultivation 
in all sections where any species of the plant is 
found growing wild. The increasing demand for 
it in European markets will eventually incite to its 
cultivation. 

Washburn thus describes a visit to the yerbales : 
"April 8. This morning the work of collecting 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 46^ 

^Q yerba commenced. The process of curing was as 
follows : A diy, level place is selected and a circular 
spot some twenty-five feet in diameter made perfectly- 
smooth and hard, and a layer of damp clay spread 
over it and stamped down till it becomes a hard and 
smooth floor. Within this space a number of small 
trees are set into the ground in circles of about 
eighteen feet in diameter. The tops of the trees are 
bent over and interwoven into each other so that an 
oval roof is formed. Then, commencing some three 
feet from the ground, long withs are woven in longi- 
tudinally with the upright poles, forming a sort of 
open basket-work at the top. The peons next go 
in search of the ycrba, which they collect and bring 
to the camp. They take with them a sort of basket 
made of thongs of raw-hide, that they adjust on 
their shoulders and neck in such a manner that they 
carry enormous loads. 

" Provided with this and a hatchet, the swarthy 
native plunges into the woods to look for the yerba. 
That most coveted is the bush from six to ten feet 
high, which he cuts down, and then, chipping off 
all the branches and leaves, whips them into his 
basket. It is the medium-sized shrub that is most 
sought. Sometimes the bush grows to a tree of 

twenty-five feet or more, but those are left unmo- 
40 



470 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



lested when the smaller shrub can be found. So 
soon as the peon collects as much as he can carry 
he returns to the camp, and the branches, having the 
leaves still on them, are passed quickly through the 
blaze of a hot fire, and then the leaves are stripped 
off and thrown upon the ground. When a sufficient 
quantity has been gathered in this way the leaves 
are all taken up and worked into the wicker-work 
of the oval structure before described. They are 
worked in with great care and so as to be of a 
uniform thickness over the whole surface. When 
this is finished the floor beneath is swept out, 
and a pile of wood that has long been cut and 
se'asoned is placed underneath and a fire kindled. 
The heat soon becomes very great, and much care 
is taken that it reaches all parts overhead alike, 
so that none of the ycrba is scorched and none that 
is not completely dried. To cure it thoroughly 
every particle of moisture must be driven away, 
and as there are always more or less of the stems 
of the wood of considerable thickness it is not 
considered safe to withdraw the fire until it has 
been in full flame for some thirty-six hours. 
When the roasting process is finished the fire and 
ashes are drawn out, the floor carefully swept, 
and the now cured ycrba is shaken to the ground. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



471 



It is then gathered up and placed under cover ready 
for packing. 

" The packing process is not the least singular of 
the jjrr/;rtr-curing operation. First the green hide of 
a large ox is taken, and a strip about five feet by 
two and a half is taken and sewed up with thongs 
from the same hide in the form of a square pillow- 
case. It is then attached to strong stakes driven 
into the ground and a quantity of the ycrba is put 
into it, when a couple of stout peons proceed to 
press it down with heavy sticks of wood in the 
form of handspikes. It is a very slow process, as 
the ycrba is beaten and hammered in until the mauls, 
though pointed at the ends, can hardly make an 
indentation. When as much has been forced in by 
this operation as possibly can be, the open sides are 
brought together and laced up with thongs of the 
green hide, and then it is left to' harden in the sun. 
What with close packing and the contraction of 
the hide by exposure to the sun, it becomes almost 
as hard as a rock. The bales, called here tercios, 
usually weigh from one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred pounds each." 

Numbers of these tercios may be seen at the 
various ports along the river and being unloaded 
before almacens in the towns. Small ones weighing 



472 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



an aroba (twenty-four pounds) are not uncommon, 
and those of a half or even a quarter aroba put up 
in the same way may sometimes be encountered. 
The pounding to which \\\q yerba has been subjected 
in the process of packing has reduced the dry leaves 
and twigs to a fine powder of a pale-green color 
tinged with brown, which is highly aromatic. It 
is called yerba mate from the cup from which it is 
partaken of, and is more frequently simply called a 
mate. The cup is made from a small gourd, grown 
for the purpose, in many fanciful shapes and orna- 
mented on the outside by various dies and shallow 
cuttings or markings with a hot, pointed iron. A 
circular opening an inch in diameter is made in one 
side to admit the bojnbilla, a silver tube with a 
strainer on the end to prevent the powder entering 
the mouth. Long strings of mate cups are a con- 
spicuous feature of all La Plata markets. The 
opening in the side is sometimes rimmed with silver 
or gold, and other decorations of the precious metals 
added. Occasionally a cup may be seen made from 
some other material. I saw one made from a small 
cocoanut shell that was bound with gold, supported 
on a golden trident, and decorated on its opposite 
sides with butterflies, whose gauzy gold wings were 
sprinkled with diamonds. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 473 

To prepare the tea, which is the universal bev- 
erage of the La Plata countries and the unfailing 
token of hospitality, the cup is half filled with the 
powder, with or without sugar, the bombilla inserted 
and the cup filled with boiling water, — for which the 
kettle is always in readiness, — and the hot liquid is 
sucked slowly through the tube. In the upper 
classes of society a servant is always in waiting to 
serve the mate. Among the laboring class a member 
of the family may present it. The relationship of 
godparent is recognized by law, and it is very cus- 
tomary for the gente dccente to sustain this relation 
to children of the peo7t class. It is often a god- 
child who brings in the mate and otherwise serves 
about one's person and is the attendant when travel- 
ling. 

Verba mate is the one indispensable luxury of all 
classes throughout the La Plata countries. A cup 
of the tea is taken the first thing in the morning, 
and also after the mid-day siesta. It is presented 
to a visitor within a few minutes after entering a 
house, and is not infrequently tasted by the hostess 
before being passed to the guest. The same cup 
passes from guest to guest and to the several mem- 
bers of the family, being refilled as required. Upon 

entering a house and finding the lady taking her 
40* 



474 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



mate, she has immediately withdrawn the bonibilla 
from her h'ps and passed it to me. I have also fre- 
quently seen the servant trying the flavor through 
the bombilla while bringing in the mate. 

The cacao or cocoa tree, from which chocolate is 
obtained, is also among the spontaneous productions 
of Paraguay. 

The mode of preparing it for market is not so 
laborious as of the mate. The tree is an ever- 
green, and grows from twelve to twenty feet high. 
The fruit or pod is shaped something like a single 
banana, and its pulp is full of seeds resembling 
somewhat those of the watermelon. The trees 
begin to bear when three years old, and ripen two 
crops in a year. The fruit is picked or knocked 
from the trees with long poles, and piled in heaps 
for three or four days to ferment and let the pulp 
soften. The seeds are then easily separated from 
the pulp, and when dried are ground and pressed 
into the crude chocolate cakes of commerce. 

The India-rubber tree also abounds in the forests, 
but as yet its produce is not an article of export. 

The only Paraguayan manufactures that at pres- 
ent have any notoriety beyond its borders are laces 
made by the women and jewelry made by its gold- 
smiths, both industries being relics of the skill in 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



475 



these departments of the fine arts gained under the 
teaching of the Jesuits in the era of their dominion. 
The lace industry embraces a large variety of ar- 
ticles, such as shawls, mantillas, scarfs for the head, 
curtains, tidies, handkerchiefs, edgings, insertings, 
hammocks, and many others, which find a ready 
sale throughout South America. A Paraguayan 
lace handkerchief sells in Buenos Ayres and Monte- 
video for from three to fifteen dollars. F'inger-nngs 
are the only specimens of the skill of Paraguayan 
goldsmiths that I encountered. They are composed 
of a number of slender rings so looped together that 
when worn they have the appearance of a heavy, 
solid ring slightly chased. When taken from the 
finger, with a slight shake one becomes a chain of 
several round links. These rings sell at about one 
dollar per link. The goldsmiths of Paraguay were 
noted for the excellence of their workmanship 
throughout the colonial period, and, so far as is 
known, retained their pre-eminence until the de- 
struction of the nation. There is, perhaps, no part 
of the world in which so much fine jewelry has^been 
worn by barefooted belles. Only within the past 
thirty-five years did shoes become essential for the 
elite, and their use is still almost wholly unknown 
among the laboring class. 



476 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

In a country so impoverished and with such a 
debt hanging over it, how to create a revenue is a 
question of the utmost importance, and one that 
may well puzzle its most astute statesmen. As yet 
customs duties are the chief source from which the 
national exchequer is supplied. In 1881 the rev- 
enue from all sources was only ^524,000, and of 
this amount 1^426,940 were customs receipts. In 
1880 the imports amounted to ;^ 1,030,000, and the 
exports to ^1,163,000. This excess of ;^ 160,000 of 
exports over imports shows at least a healthy state 
of economy in the use of imported goods that au- 
gurs well for the final liquidation of the national 
debt. In 188 1 the imports amounted to only 
;^ 1,29 1, 943. Formerly there was a duty on both 
exports and imports, by which it was sought to 
distribute the burdens of government equitably 
among producers and consumers of all classes, the 
exporters of native produce as well as the con- 
sumers of imported goods, which are not neces- 
sarily the same persons ; nor does it follow that the 
largest producers are consumers of imported arti- 
cles to any appreciable extent. The export duty 
was abolished in 1877. The chief imports are 
cotton goods, wines and malt liquors, and flour. 
The chief exports are mate, hides, tobacco, and 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 477 

fruits. The affairs of the government are so eco- 
nomically administered that even with its small 
revenue its financial condition is gaining a brighter 
aspect. In 1881, when the ordinary expenses of 
the government amounted to ;S268,834 (of which 
;^7i,748 was for the Department of Justice, Wor- 
ship, and Education), there was at the end of the 
year a balance to the credit of the government of 
;^89,254. At the end of 1882 there was a balance 
of ;$ 144,62 1, and treasury orders had risen from 
eight per cent, to twenty-five per cent. 

Since its organization, in 1 880, "The Bank of 
Paraguay," located in the capital, has furnished the 
currency of the country. It is a private institu- 
tion, with a capital of ^100,000 (authorized capital 
;^500,OOo). In recognition of its utility, it is exempt 
from taxation. At the session of Congress in 1883 
a law was passed to charter a national bank similar 
to the National Bank of the Argentine Republic, 
with an authorized capital of ;^2,ooo,000, to be the 
fiscal agent of the government, which is one of the 
largest stockholders. As there is a large traflfic with 
the Argentine Republic, and the balance of trade is 
in favor of the latter, Argentine national notes are 
current in Asuncion at a premium. 

The probability is that the internal commerce of 



478 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

the country will for an indefinite future depend 
mainly on the heads of the women and bullock- 
carts, where the latter are available. There is only 
one railroad in the country, and that is only forty- 
five miles in length and badly out of repair. It 
was built by Lopez II. for the transportation of 
troops. He had the headquarters of his army, until 
forced to retreat into the interior, at Paraguari, its 
northern terminus. In 1877 the government sold 
this railroad to a private company for ;^ 1,000,000, 
which was paid in treasury scrip. The object of the 
sale was to assist in paying the internal national 
debt. Four classes of passenger cars are used on 
it. The third-class passengers ride on wooden 
benches in box cars. In the fourth class they stand 
on a platform car surrounded by only a railing. A 
street car connects the depot with the steamer 
landing. In 1882 there were only four trains per 
week leaving Asuncion in the morning and return- 
ing in the evening, and the whole traffic over the 
road during the year amounted only to ^61,207. 
The telegraph in connection with this railroad 
was the only one in the Republic until March, 
1884, when one called Paso de la Patria, connecting 
Asuncion with Corrientes, was inaugurated. This 
brings Paraguay into telegraphic communication 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 479 

with Buenos Ayres, and thence with the outside 
world. 

Foreign commerce is wholly dependent on the 
Parana and Paraguay Rivers, and until quite re- 
cently all that went beyond the La Plata basin 
had to pass through the Argentine Republic or the 
port of Montevideo. The transit trade through the 
Argentine Republic in 1882 amounted to $643,790, 
of which more than eleven times as much went from 
as came to Paraguay. Two steamers per week, sail- 
ing under the Argentine flag, are despatched from 
Buenos Ayres for Asuncion. A Brazilian company 
sends one Paraguay river steamer per month from 
Montevideo. The official report for 1882 gave the 
following returns of Paraguayan ports : 

No. of Vessels. 

Steamers. Tonnage. 

Entries 452 100,450 

Departures 483 123,500 

Sailing. 

Entries 170 4,396 

Departures 86 6,598 

Of these, one hundred and twenty sailing vessels 
and two steamers carried the Paraguayan flag. In 
1883 a company was formed to run small steamships 



480 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

between Asuncion and Spain, stopping at the ports 
of Uruguay and the Argentine Republic. The first 
ship built for this line was named " Solis," in honor 
of the discoverer of the Rio de la Plata. The second 
was named "Colon" (Columbus). 

The United States has little or no part, directly, 
in the commerce of Paraguay. It has had neither 
diplomatic nor consular representative there since 
the Paraguayan war. Whatever business is trans- 
acted with the people of the " Great Republic of the 
North" is done through its consul residing in Mon- 
tevideo, more than a thousand miles away, the two 
little republics being united as one consulate. Thus 
the encouragement of seeing the " star-spangled" 
representative of popular sovereignty in their midst 
is denied to this people struggling so hard to attain 
it. The monarchies of Europe are duly represented. 

One of the first cares of the new government 
was to provide for public schools. True, there had 
always been a farce of providing public instruction, 
and in the last year of the administration of Lopez 
I. it was made compulsory. But the education was 
not made secular, and hence the law defeated itself. 
There was then only one school in Paraguay for 
what, in their own parlance, was dignified as higher 
education, and it has been estimated that at the end 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 48 1 

of his administration not one-third as many of the 
people could read as at the era of independence. 
In 1874 steps were taken to improve the efficiency 
of the schools by the importation of improved text- 
books. There is a national college in Asuncion, 
with a full corps of professors, and several municipal 
schools. There is also a public library containing 
several thousand volumes, among them the works 
of the American authors, — Kent, Story, Wheaton, 
Greenleaf, Bancroft, Prescott, Motley, and Irving, — 
and a full set of " Appleton's Encyclopaedia." 

There seems to be an honest effort for the enlight- 
enment of the people; and, considering its income, 
a large amount is expended for public schools. But 
until teachers also can be brought to them from 
countries that have heretofore enjoyed better privi- 
leges, the progress of popular education must be 
slow. 

The agents of the American and British Bible 
Societies have carried their work into Paraguay, and 
in a i'&w instances evangelical ministers from the 
coast cities have held religious services in Asuncion 
and its environs. 

It is no longer the duty of the Postmaster-General 

of Paraguay to examine every one's mail. If it were, 

his would be no sinecure office, as is shown by the 
Y ee 41 



482 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



following summary of its postal service for three 
consecutive years : 



Number of Letters Transmitted. 


1880. 


1881. 


1882. 


Inland 

Foreign (received) 

Foreign (sent) 


20,796 
30,860 
15,178 


34,117 
47,134 
48,862 


54,154 

60,059 
61,602 


Post-office receipts 


^1,872 


;^2,227 


;^2,3o6 



For self-protection, an army of one hundred and 
fifty cavalry and three hundred and fifty infantry is 
maintained at government expense. A part of this 
small force is kept at Asuncion and the remainder 
on the frontier. In addition to this, every able- 
bodied man between eighteen and fifty-five years of 
age is regarded as a member of the Reserve, or 
Home Guard, and in an emergency may be called 
upon for military service. 

There has been no general census published since 
1879. As given at that time the entire population 
was 484,048, of whom 61,000 were civilized Indians, 
70,000 wild Indians, and 7000 foreigners. In 1882 
the population of its principal towns was given at 
98,902, as follows : 



483 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

Asuncion ....... 20,000 

Villa Rica ....... 12,570 

Villa Concepcion ...... 10,697 

Villa San Pedro 9,706 

Villa Luque 8,878 

Villa San Estanislao 7>453 

Villa Itangua 6,948 

Villa Ita 6,332 

Paraguari ....... 5.315 

Humaita ..... 3,868 

Villa Pillar 3,722 

Villa Jagiiaron ...... 3,413 



The city of Asuncion, which before the war had 
double its present population and much more than 
double its present magnificence, is delightfully lo- 
cated on a high bluff overlooking a bend in the 
Paraguay River. It commands a fine view of the 
river for a long distance and of a broad sweep of 
the surrounding country, bounded on the southern 
horizon by the blue peak of the Lambare Mountain. 
The city was once laid out in regular squares regard- 
less of the inequalities of the ground ; but, except 
the public buildings surrounding the plasa, there is 
little regularity in the appearance of the modern 
city, and, by the washing of heavy rains, the streets 
in many places have become almost impassable 
gullies. At the outbreak of the war, Lopez II. was 



4S4 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

building a magnificent palace for himself, also a 
theatre covering about four acres. Neither of these 
buildings were finished, and, with the remains of 
others that were destroyed in the bombardment of 
the city or have since fallen to decay because of the 
destruction of its inhabitants, give to the first capital 
of the La Plata countries the appearance of great 
antiquity, make it " a city of magnificent ruins." 
But if above these ruins rises a higher type of 
liberty, a more perfect form of government, a truer 
nationality, a nobler civilization, no tears need 
bedew their crumbling walls. That such is and 
shall be the case there now seems no reason to 
doubt. • 

Only ten years after the army of occupation left 
by the conquerors had been withdrawn from the 
prostrate nation. President Caballero gave this en- 
couraging glimpse of its condition in his message 
to Congress : 

" We begin to experience at last the result of 
the patient labor we have undergone in raising 
the country from its prostration, in repairing past 
disasters, and in giving a new impulse to our onward 
march. We havQ required a large measure of 
patience to attain these results ; but, fortunately, 
after having overcome the pressure of great difficul- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 485 

ties, we are now able to feel assured that the work 
of national reconstruction is on a firm foundation 
and that the country is once more moving forward 
with a steady step to a prosperous future. In this 
noble work it is consoling to observe that the people 
themselves have taken the most important part. 
The cruel misfortunes which they have had to 
endure for a time saddened their spirit, but they 
were not able to crush it; and to-day the noble 
work which has been dignified by their sufferings 
begins to exhibit the victory which peace can attain 
for a country. 

" This transformation is exerting a happy influence 
in behalf of public order. The Constitution is no 
longer a dead letter. Its prescriptions are no longer 
faithless promises. The independent action of the 
different departments of the government is no longer 
a lie. The sacred guarantees of life, honor, and 
property are no longer vain chimeras. 

" Everything now favors the advancement of the 
country. . . . The riches of a nation are not meas- 
ured by its size, but by its cultivation, its civiliza- 
tion, its commerce, its industries ; and our every 
energy should be directed to the development of 
the elements which so marvellously exist around us, 

and in which our future greatness must consist. 
41* 



486 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

" The state of the country is eminently satisfactory; 
our pastoral industry is increasing ; our agriculture 
is occupying larger areas ; our commerce is assum- 
ing greater importance ; and our industries are 
gradually expanding. What is more, all the depart- 
ments of government are working harmoniously 
and in unison; while the administration of justice, 
through the courts — those safeguards of the rights 
of the people — moves on with commendable regu- 
larity." 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 48/- 

CHAPTER XXXII I. 

EPITOME OF PARAGUAYAN HISTORY. 

Discovered by Sebastian Cabot, in the employ 

of Spain 1527 

Asuncion founded . . , . August 15, 1537 
Paraguay a Spanish colony till 18 11, when Dr. 
Don Pedro Somerella, secretary of Governor 
Velasco, became the leader of the revolution 
of independence, which was secured without 
a battle. 
Informal Congress assembled . . June 16, 1811 
Paraguayan independence announced June 17, iSil 

FIRST GOVERNING JUNTA, 

General Fulgencio Yegros, Dr. Jose Gasper 
Rodriguez Francia, General Don Juan Pe- 
dro Caballero, Padre Bogardin, Don Fer- 
nando Mora. 

SECOND GOVERNING JUNTA, 1 8 II. 

General Fulgencia Yegros, General Don Juan 
Pedro Caballero, Padre Bogardin, Don Fer- 
nando Mora, Don Gresforio de La Cerda. 



488 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

Dr. Jose Gasper R. Francia recalled to the 

government as Director of the Junta . 1813 
Junta abolished and succeeded by a Consulate, 

October, 1813 

CONSULS. 

Dr. Jose Gasper R. Francia, General Fulgencio 
Yegros. 

Consulate expired .... October, 1814 
Dr. J. G. R. Francia, "Dictator of Paraguay" 

1814-17 
Dr. J. G. R. Francia, " Perpetual Dictator of 
Paraguay" 1817-40 

Independence acknowledged by Spain . . 1825 
By Argentine Confederation . . . .1852 

By Great Britain . . . . . .1853 

By United States 1868 

Provisional Government, after the death of 
Francia, called by his secretary, and com- 
posed of four generals of divisions and him- 
self. 

People called a Congress, January 23, 1841, 
and appointed Triumvirate. 

Triumvirate dissolved . . February 27, 1841 



1844-62 

. 1862-70 

1865-70 

March i, 1870 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. ^gg 

General Mariano Roque Alonso, as Military- 
Governor, and Carlos Antonio Lopez, as his 
secretary, call a " Congress," and from it re- 
ceive the title of consuls. 

Carlos Antonio Lopez, General Mariano R. 
Alonso, Consuls 1841-44 

Consulate abolished and the name of " Presi- 
dent" adopted 1844 

Carlos Antonio Lopez, " President' 

Francisco Solano Lopez " 

Paraguayan war 

Francisco Solano Lopez killed 

Provisional Governing Junta, composed of C. 
Laizaga, C. A. Riverola, J. D. de Bodega, 
established by the armies of the Triple Al- 
liance at Asuncion . . August 15, 1869 

Provisional treaty of peace made with allies, 

June 2, 1870 

Constitution adopted . . November 25, 1870 

C. A. Riverola elected President December 10, 1870 

Don Salvador Zovellanos elected President for 
three years .... December 12, 1871 

Unsuccessful attempt by revolution to over- 
throw the government of President Zovel- 
lanos March 23, 1872 

Treaty of limits with Brazil ratified October 12, 1872 



490 L^ PLATA COUNTRIES. 

Senor Don Bautista Gil, President . . . 1874 
Treaty of limits with Argentine Republic 

signed at Buenos Ayres . February 3, 1876 

Senor Don Candido Bareiro elected President . 1876 

General B. Caballero, President . . . 1882 



PART V. 



BRAZILIAN LA PLATA. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

BRAZILIAN LA PLATA. 

While Brazil cannot be claimed as a La Plata 
country, in considering the part of the continent 
drained by that river and most accessible through 
it, it must not be forgotten that a no insignificant 
portion belongs to that Empire, comprising its 
Provinces of Sao Pedro de Rio Grande de Sul 
(usually called simply Rio Grande), Parana, and 
Matto Grosso, with the larger part of Sao Paulo 
and a corner of Goyaz and Minas Geraes, — an area 
equal to that of Texas, Minnesota, Georgia, Michi- 
gan, and California. 

On entering Brazil a passport is necessary. This 
should be procured before leaving one's own coun- 
try ; but if that precaution has been neglected, ap- 
plication may be made to its representative (minister 
plenipotentiary or consul) at the port it is desired 
to enter. The passport is vised by the local officers of 
each town or district visited, and his seal affixed, for 
which a small fee is paid. Until this has been done 
42 493 



494 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

the stranger has no right there and no rights to be 
respected. Like the natives, the foreigner must give 
three days' pubHc notice of his intention before he 
can leave the Empire, or else furnish a security 
who will be responsible for any debts that may 
afterwards be proved against him. A passport to 
leave Brazil costs three dollars. 

A knowledge of the Portuguese language is as 
essential on the eastern side of the river as of the 
Spanish on the western. But he who has mastered 
the one will soon make himself understood in the 
other. Although many spend months or even years 
without mastering more than the commonest phrases, 
he who must depend on expressing his thoughts 
through an interpreter will always find himself at a 
disadvantage. The ease with which a language may 
be " picked up," and the difficulty of an adult's ac- 
quiring it, are both exaggerated in the thoughts 
of those who have never tried the experiment. An 
ability to read and write a language may be acquired 
anywhere by study, and will be found of great ad- 
vantage on entering the lands where it is spoken, 
and especially so in these countries. The ability to 
converse will then be acquired with the education 
of the ear, and a few months' practice will give one 
with average linguistic ability a fair command of it. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



495 



It is customary for travellers in Brazil — as also in 
the interior of the Spanish La Plata — to carry their 
own beds. The hammock is the favorite bed of 
the natives, and very handsome ones are made by 
Brazilian women. 

In crossing the river a new money system is en- 
countered, although some familiarity with it may 
have been gained in the neighboring republics. In 
the Brazilian system the rey is the unit of value. Its 
fractions and multiples fqllow the decimal system. 
The following table shows its denominations and 
their practical equivalent in the money of the United 
States : 

20 (vento) reis = $0.01 

100 (ciento) " = 05 

200 (doscientos) " r^ 10 

5CX3 (quinientos) " = 25 

1000 (mil) •' (written i;^ooo) = . . .50 

2000 (dos mil) " ( " 2^000) = . . I.oo 

The smaller silver coins are so liberally alloyed 
as to make them accepted with reluctance beyond 
the border of the country, but the 2^000 piece is as 
readily accepted in Uruguay and some parts of 
Argentina as their own coins. A very poor paper 
scrip supplies the greater part of the circulating 
medium of the Empire and fluctuates much in value. 



496 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

rarely being less than ten per cent, below par. The 
English sovereign is legal tender at 8;^890, and is 
thus virtually a Brazilian coin. A letter of credit 
on some reliable and well-known bank* is the most 
convenient method of carrying funds here, as the 
world over. Next to it, a draft on a well-known 
bank in England is most desirable. 

With a passport, a couch, a ready tongue, and a 
well-filled purse, God speed the visitor to Western 
Brazil. 

All, or nearly all, the area of the Brazilian La 
Plata was originally included in the Portuguese 
dependency of Sao Paulo, and its possession was 
secured to the Portuguese crown mainly through 
the prowess of the Mamelucos. When settled 
habitations and peaceful industries took the place 
of adventure, smaller divisions were found advanta- 
geous. All the territory possessed by Brazil in the 
temperate zone is drained by the tributaries of the 
Rio de la Plata, except a narrow strip lying between 
the Serra do Mar and the ocean. This mountain 
range extends from near Rio de Janeiro to Mal- 
donado Point, in Uruguay, with an elevation of from 

*The Brazilian consul at New York would probably furnish 
desired information on that subject at any time. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA, 497 

two thousand to two thousand five hundred feet. 
Its ascent from the seaward side is so abrupt as to 
be almost inaccessible, except at a few points, to 
other than muleback travellers. Several almost 
parallel ranges increase the difficulty of access to 
the seaboard. In the Province of Rio Grande a 
break in the Serra do Mar admits the Grande River 
to the sea through Pelotus Bay, the only available 
harbor for ships on this part of the coast. The 
entrance to Pelotus Bay is obstructed by dangerous 
sand-bars that will probably continue for some time 
to deflect much of the traffic that would otherwise 
centre here through the more circuitous routes of 
the tributaries of the La Plata. Notwithstanding 
this, Porto Alegre, at the head of the bay, is a town 
of considerable importance, and the only entrance 
the iron horse has yet made into the western part of 
the Empire is by a line connecting this port with 
Uruguayana, on the Uruguay River. This railroad 
is opening up a fine section of country, and is in 
operation about half of the distance. 

Rio Grande is one of the most important Provinces 
of Brazil. It bears a strong physical resemblance to 
Uruguay, and its inhabitants are engaged in similar 
industries. Cattle raising ranks as the foremost 
industry. Stock cattle are worth from five to six 
ff 42* 



498 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

dollars per head, and those for the slaughter from 
two dollars and fifty cents to thirteen dollars. The 
annual slaughter is from two and a half to three 
million head, and more of the dried meat that forms 
the great staple of food for all classes throughout 
the Empire is contributed by the Rio Grande va- 
qiteros than is furnished by any other part of its 
population. This Province also furnishes more 
wheat than is grown elsewhere in the Empire, and 
the berry is of excellent quality. " Improved meth- 
ods" of cultivation have not yet been introduced. 
It is equally well adapted to all the fruits of the 
temperate zone. Cultivated lands are valued at 
from six to eight dollars per acre. Coffee and 
cotton are grown to a limited extent, but they reach 
greater perfection in the adjoining Provinces. The 
people, although, like Brazilians generally, a very 
friendly and affable race, are said to be averse to 
having strangers settle among them, and rather than 
suffer such a contingency buy up all lands that come 
into the market. 

The Province of Sao Paulo ranks second in the 
Empire in the production of cotton, of which the 
fibre is very good. The plant blooms in January 
and picking begins in February. Cotton-mills are 
in operation in eight different towns, which repre- 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. ^gg 

sent an invested capital of ^2,254,000, and give 
employment to 470 looms. In 1884 funds were 
being subscribed to erect a mill in the city of Sao 
Paulo, of greater productive capacity than any in the 
Empire, (The largest one now in operation pro- 
duces more than 4,000,000 yards of woven goods 
annually.) And this even in " slow Brazil," within 
three-quarters of a century after T. Ashe, Esq., writ- 
ing thence, assured the British people that it was 
"unreasonable to suppose that manufactures could 
ever flourish in the western hemisphere !" 

The cultivation of coffee ranks next after cotton, — 
if, indeed, it does not take the precedence, — and 
within a few years the new industry of collecting 
and preparing the milk of the mangabeira (India- 
rubber) tree for exportation has begun to attract the 
attention of its people. This tree is of medium size, 
resembles the weeping willow in form, and bears a 
delicious fruit something like a plum, that bears 
transportation well. It grows abundantly on the 
sandy soil of the serras. To collect the milk, sev- 
eral lengthwise incisions are made in the bark and 
dishes set under them. After a few days these 
wounds should be allowed to heal, and cuttings may 
then be made every month without injury to the tree. 
One person can attend to from ten to fifteen trees. 



500 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



The Province of Parana is less developed than are 
its southern neighbors, and has a more sparse popu- 
lation. Its warmer latitude is somewhat compen- 
sated by the high general level of its surface. It was 
on his route from St. Catherine's Island to Asuncion 
through this Province, in 1565, that the Spanish 
governor, Senor Alvar Nunez Vara Cabeza de Vaca, 
struck terror into the hearts of the natives with the 
twenty-six horses that formed a part of his retinue. 
Never having seen such animals before, they brought 
out honey and chickens to feed them, and begged 
the governor to tell the " monstrous creatures not 
to be angry with them and they would give them 
whatever they wished." Now even the little chil- 
dren almost live on horseback. Poor Alvar Nunez 
Vara Cabeza de Vaca had a hard time getting his 
" monstrous creatures" through to his capital. He 
had to keep a company of men at work chopping a 
path for them through the thick growth of thorny 
brushwood, and had to build eighteen bridges for 
them over the Ibicuy River alone. It cannot be 
said that highways have very greatly improved since 
his day. If a single word can express the greatest 
need of Western Brazil, that word is roads. Yet a 
denser population must exist before a great change 
in this respect can transpire. Bullock-carts are in 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



501 



some sections available, but for the most part 
horseback and muleback must for the present con- 
tinue the chief mode of conveyance for man and 
merchandise. 

Matto Grosso is one of the largest political 
divisions of the Empire. Its name, signifying tJiick 
brushzi'ood, indicates the nature of its timber growth. 
The climate is warm but salubrious. After Minas 
Geraes, it has been Brazil's most prolific diamond 
field. Although the diamonds are usually small, no 
other field yet discovered has yielded so large a 
number of the first water. The search for them is 
still rewarded by a fair yield, but the interests of 
agriculture are now superseding it. Coffee, cotton, 
maize, mandioca, and tobacco are its principal crops. 
Cuyuba, the capital of the Province, is situated in 
the midst of the gold district, and was founded 
through the excitement attending the discovery of 
that metal. Except Ouro Preto, no Brazilian town 
was more cursed with the yellow dust. Could 
human beings have lived on gold, eaten it, covered 
and shielded themselves with it, these early settlers 
had been blessed. Instead, with it all about them, 
they found themselves the poorest of all men. In 
their misery another affliction awaited them that 
may have given foundation to the fable of "John 



502 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



Whittlesay's cat." The place became infested with 
rats, and a Portuguese, who preferred speculation to 
swinging the pickaxe, brought out a pair of cats. 
The first kittens sold for thirty-two drachms of gold 
avoirdupois, and the second generation for twenty- 
one and one-quarter ounces apiece. The relative 
value of cats and gold has somewhat changed, but 
both still contribute to the welfare of the inhabitants. 
This city is two thousand miles by river from Monte- 
video, Asuncion being about midway between them. 
Since the opening of the Paraguay River it has 
been regularly connected by steam navigation with 
the ports of the South Atlantic, a new impetus has 
been given to all peaceful industries, and new villages 
are growing into the dignity of towns. No part of 
the Empire has developed more rapidly than its La 
Plata Provinces in relative importance since the con- 
clusion of the Paraguayan war. This increased 
facility of communication between the Spanish and 
Portuguese sections of the La Plata is also con- 
ducive to a better acquaintance and more appre- 
ciative friendship, as well as to the development of 
local commerce equally advantageous to both. 

The Brazilian Provinces is the only part of the La 
Plata in which African slavery now exists, and by 
existing law it will vanish from it in 1890, whea 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 503 

the government will purchase all that may then 
remain. On the passage of the gradual abolition 
law, in 1 87 1, a manumission fund was provided for 
from certain lotteries and special taxes with which 
to buy slaves and set them free. In the first twelve 
years after the passage of the law more than twelve 
thousand slaves were freed from this fund, and a 
large number had also purchased their own freedom. 
Since 1 880 the anti-slavery question has been vigor- 
ously agitated, and many masters have voluntarily 
freed their bondmen. At the beginning of 1883 
Rio Grande was next after Rio Janeiro in the num- 
ber of slaves manumitted. The next year some of 
the northern Provinces abolished slavery within their 
limits. At the beginning of the century one-fifth of 
the entire population of the Empire were African 
slaves, but it is decreed that when it shall close the 
sun will set on a nation of freemen. There is here 
no such prejudice against color as existed in the 
United States; for, although the African has always 
been introduced into Brazil as a slave, no prejudice 
exists against him as an individual or against his 
race. His slavery is merely his accident, and when 
he has gained his freedom he is no more contemned 
than if he could trace his descent untainted to Lu- 
satania. African blood flows as richly in marble halls 



504 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



as in mud hovels. Every avenue of wealth and 
political preferment is open to it. 

The largest proportion of slaves are now held in 
the agricultural districts, where it is still believed 
that the successful cultivation of coffee is dependent 
on slave labor, — a belief held all the more tenaciously 
because it has been found that plantations worked 
by manumitted slaves yield much less than before 
their manumission. 

There is no prettier sight in the whole range of 
husbandry than a coffee plantation, not excepting 
the orange groves of Paraguay. The trees are 
about twelve feet high, covered with glossy dark- 
green leaves. The blossom is pure white, very 
fragrant, and lasts but a single day. The first 
blooming season is in August and September, the 
second in November and December, and a third in 
January. The berries, when ripe, are a bright red, 
resembling cherries or cranberries. The first gath- 
ering is the main crop. The trees begin to bear 
when three years old and continue bearing from 
fifteen to twenty years. The fruit is gathered in 
large baskets. Four pounds of dried coffee per tree 
per year is a good yield. To gather from twenty- 
five to thirty-five pounds is a day's work for a 
slave. After being dried on a platform, the berries 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



505 



are passed between rollers to remove the pulp or 
husk, then soaked to remove a mucilage that adheres 
to the membrane surrounding the seeds, then again 
dried, passed through rollers, and winnowed, when 
it is ready to be sacked and placed on the back of 
a mule for its journey to the seaboard. Improved 
machinery for preparing it for market, suited to a 
large plantation, costs about fifteen thousand dollars. 
A few years after the discovery of diamonds in 
Brazil, the King of Portugal, alarmed at the rapid 
decrease in their value, called together his wise men 
to devise a remedy. Dr. Joam Mendez de Almeyde, 
a distinguished lapidary, " animated," as he said, 
" by the fear of God, the love of his neighbor, the 
respect due to his king, and the fidelity of a good 
subject," brought all his powers to bear upon " the 
most important affair that had ever been brought 
forward from the beginning of the world." Royal 
Parliaments, commercial savants, and centuries do 
not always agree as to the most important subjects 
of human consideration. The whole Brazilian dia- 
mond yield during the dominion of Portugal was 
two hundred and thirty-two thousand carats, valued 
at seventeen million five hundred thousand dollars. 
The single coffee crop of 1884, at eight cents per 

pound, amounted to nearly four times as much. Of 
w 43 



5o6 LA PLATA COUNTRIES 

this crop the United States bought nearly five hun- 
dred million pounds, so fond have our people become 
of the black broth of the Lacedemonians. 

People cannot live upon " black broth" let its 
material be never so abundant, and as wheat does 
not enter into the food supply of the native Brazil- 
ian, its place is filled by a flour made from the tu- 
berous roots of the mandioca plant, of which two 
species are cultivated. The smaller one is the same 
described as taking the place of the potato in Para- 
guay. The one principally cultivated for flour is 
larger, the tubers averaging from five to six pounds 
in weight, and sometimes reaching from twenty to 
thirty pounds. The stalks are slender and grow 
from three to four feet in height, with a few dark 
bluish-green leaves and buds throughout their length, 
by means of which the plant is propagated. When 
a field is gathered, the stalks are cut into four-inch 
slips and planted for the new crop. The ground 
is prepared by throwing it up into ridges, the same 
as for sweet potatoes. When the land is exhausted 
a new tract is prepared by burning off the logs and 
brush, and the mandioca is quite as much at home 
among the stumps as are corn and potatoes in the 
" new" parts of the United States. The labor of 
cultivating mandioca is left wholly to the women, 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 507 

because tradition says a celestial visitor first gave 
her the plant and explained its use and mode of 
cultivation, and hence it is believed that a man can 
have no luck with it. The angel also explained to 
her the method of freeing it from its poisonous juice, 
which is deadly to mankind. This is effected by 
rasping the tuber to a pulp and subjecting it to 
pressure, after which it is dried on heated stone 
griddles, pounded in wooden mortars, passed through 
a sieve, and is ready for use. Half an hour is suffi- 
cient to prepare enough for a meal from the tuber 
and bake it into cakes. The native or aborigines' 
rasp is a bit of timber with sharp stones gummed 
to its surface ; the foreigner's rasp, a wheel with a 
brass tire punched full of holes and put on rough 
side out, which one negro turns while the other 
holds the tuber against it with his hand. The native 
press, which was also in use when the country was 
first visited by the white man, is a long, slender 
wicker bag which, when pressed full of pulp, loses 
in length but gains in width. It is then hung up 
and a weight fixed to the bottom, which restores the 
length and expels the juice. In the absence of a 
more convenient weight the manipulator takes hold 
of the bottom with his hands and swings himself 
from the ground. The foreigner's method is to put 



5o8 ^^ PLATA COUNTRIES 

the pulp into hair-cloth bags and place it under a 
screw. The one press can be bought for a dime, 
the other costs nearly three hundred dollars. The 
fine sediment that settles in the bottoms of the 
vessels that receive the juice forms the tapioca of 
commerce. Considerable quantities of the flour are 
now also exported to Europe for its manufacture. 
The flour is either eaten dry, — for which it is often 
carried in the travelling-bag, — baked into cakes 
mixed with water or with water and honey, or fried 
in olive oil or suet. It also forms a principal ingre- 
dient in the olla podrida or " national stew" of dried 
beef and vegetables that takes the place of the 
puchero, universal on the other side of the river. 

The University of Sao Paulo is the oldest school 
for higher education in the Empire, and the only one 
in these Provinces. Within its walls many of Brazil's 
most able men have been educated. Its curriculum 
is similar to that of the colleges of the United 
States. Its divinity course requires seven years. 
Aside from the advantages afforded by it, the means 
of acquiring an education are very limited. In 1882, 
Brazil devoted seventeen and one-half per cent, of 
its revenue to the cause of public instruction. 
During that year two children for every one hun- 
dred inhabitants in the Province of Rio Grande 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 509 

received the benefit of the grant. Only one more 
child out of every thousand inhabitants was in the 
schools of Sao Paulo, and three more to the thou- 
sand in those of Parana. The maximum of the dis- 
trict was reached in Matto Grosso, where there was 
one child in school for every twenty-five inhabitants. 
The normal school and the foreign teacher are not 
yet factors in the Brazilian scheme of education. 

Like the republics west of it, the Empire of 
Brazil early intimated a desire to receive accessions 
to its population from other countries, and for a 
time its greater tranquillity proved more attractive. 
In the six years from 1857 to 1862, Brazil received 
97,460 immigrants and the Argentine Republic 
only 33,020. But in the six years from 1876 to 
1882 the Argentine Republic received 176,385 and 
the Empire of Brazil only 92,620, and this notwith- 
standing that several million dollars had in the mean 
time been disbursed from the Imperial treasury for 
the encouragement of immigration and the support 
of immigrants. With a large outlay of money, it 
has established several colonies of Europeans, some 
of which have been reasonably successful. The 
townships laid out for colonization by the Imperial 
Government are six miles square, and are divided 
into quarter sections of seventy-five acres, for which 
43* 



510 



LA PLATA COUNTRIES 



a merely nominal price is charged, payable within 
five years at six per cent. Deeds* are given when 
the lands are marked off. But as the bulk of un- 
cultivated lands in the Empire belong, not to the 
government, but to individuals, who hold immense 
tracts free from taxation, and take but little interest 
in colonization, those general and extensive schemes 
which might otherwise obtain are impracticable. 
The agitation of the subject how to augment its 
population has made prominent the rather discour- 
aging fact that a very small proportion of those who 
from time to time have found a home there have 
accepted the privileges and assumed the responsi- 
bilities of citizenship. Although a large number 
of foreigners have been engaged in business in dif-^ 
ferent parts of its domain during the first fifty-seven 
years of the independence of Brazil, only 5309 per- 
sons were naturalized. Several reasons are assigned 
by Brazilian statesmen for this, among which are the 



■* Minerals are not included in these government sales unless so 
specified ; as, with certain specifications and limitations, the mineral 
wealth of Brazil has always been the prize of the finder, who pays a 
percentage into the Imperial treasury. The extraction of the min- 
eral wealth, as well as the modern development of other Brazilian 
industries, is due to the investment of foreign capital, a large pro- 
portion of which is British. 



OF SOUTH AMERICA. 5H 

political disabilities attaching to foreign-born citizens 
and to all non-adherents of the State Church. The 
removal of all such disabilities is earnestly advo- 
cated by some of its most eloquent legislators. As 
a measure to secure the assimilation of its foreign 
population and attract others in increasing numbers, 
the " Citizens' Bill" was introduced in the Congress 
of 1883, and was again agitated in that of 1884. By 
the provisions of this bill, foreign-born citizens are 
to be eligible to all offices in the government, in- 
cluding the Regency; all foreigners become citizens 
by a residence of three years, unless they go before 
the consul representing their country and state that 
they do not wish to renounce their citizenship in 
their native land ; the time of residence necessary 
to secure Brazilian citizenship is reduced from three 
to two years by marrying a Brazilian lady or hold- 
ing civil office. 

Whatever special legislation may add its acceler- 
ating influence to the general development and 
prosperity of the Empire, its La Plata Provinces 
will bear no insignificant part in its future history. 



"T^^ 



